Just like in Syria and Iraq, U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf only serves as a source for escalation and war rather than serving U.S. interests. https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1252932181447630848

If regional stability is the concern, then this strategy is clearly not working. GCC-Iran diplomacy is the longer term solution and the U.S. military presence is preventing that.

Despite supporting Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen, President Obama’s longer term vision for the Middle East post-JCPOA was for Saudi Arabia and Iran “to find an effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace.”

In fact, when Qassem Soleimani was assassinated in Baghdad, he was there to respond to overtures from Riyadh through the Iraqi intermediaries. Again, a natural deescalatory process by two regional adversaries was prevented by Washington. Allow Waltzian realism take its course :)

Ideally, Washington would facilitate this type of diplomacy in order to pivot its resources to more pressing issues on the global stage, like climate change and peacefully engaging China. Risking military quagmires in a region that constitutes 4% of global GDP is self-defeating.