Trump'sMiddleEastpolicycouldbesummarizedas"oneaxisandthreeapproaches."ThemaindriveriscreatinganallianceofIsraelandSaudiArabia,andhisthreeapproachesaretocontainIran,counterterrorism,andlaunchthedealofthecentury.BehindthisMiddleEastpolicyisTrump'saccelerationofglobalcontraction,andareturntotheUSpro-Israeldiplomatictradition,bothinfluencedbyTrumpianstyleandtheJewishpeoplearoundhim.AnyrelianceonanIsrael-SaudiArabiaallianceisinherentlyfragile,thepotentialforIranregimechangeunclear,andTrump'splanneddealwoulddestabilizetheregionandexpandaUS-Europeanrift.ChangingthisdirectionwouldrequiretheUStothinkmoredeeplyaboutMiddleEastlong-termprospectstofindamorebalancedpolicy.
