Pompeo’s pointless Mideast trip

By Ruhollah Ghasemian

TEHRAN - These days, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to the Middle East and his meeting with his eight Arab counterparts have led some to think that Washington is planning to organize an Arab alliance against Iran and a war on Tehran will soon take shape in the region.

The wave of Iranophobia and drumming of the war against Iran is not over yet, and others believe that Trump’s erratic decision to withdraw the U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, without coordinating with the Pentagon and Congress, is to keep the U.S. troops away from Iran's missile shields and that means a war is about to break out.
The question, however, is whether the U.S. is really willing to fight against Iran? What does the Warsaw anti-Iran summit meanwhile the American troops are pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan? In response to these questions, three viewpoints are raised:

First viewpoint

It appears that Pompeo has traveled to eight Arab capitals for several reasons: 1. An attempt to create a unified Arab coalition against Iran 2. Returning Qatar to Persian Gulf Cooperation Council and forge unity between its members.  3. Tracking the new American desire to get out of the Middle East.

Contrary to what Pompeo predicted, his visit to the region was not successful, as the Arab states' dissatisfaction was generally highlighted in these meetings. In his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi at the presidential palace in Cairo, Pompeo called for the formation of a coalition against Iran, but his Egyptian counterpart said that his country's top priority was the overall fight against terrorism.

The U.S. secretary of state on his Qatar’s visit urged an end to the diplomatic rift between the Persian Gulf Arab states. But the Qatari officials emphasized that until Doha is viewed as a sponsor for terrorism, nothing will happen. Even Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that there is no consensus on the resolution of the Qatari crisis, and the priorities and approaches of the Arab states are different towards Iran. 

Regarding the U.S. willingness to leave Syria, these days the Arab nation believes that the White House has destroyed the Arab region and has left it without resolving the turmoil it created.

Thus, Pompeo's visit to the region was unsuccessful because he failed not only to persuade the Arab states to form an anti-Iranian alliance but to establish peace between Qatar and other countries. 

Second viewpoint

After Trump unexpectedly announced that the U.S. would be pulling troops out of Syria, the U.S. government faced plenty of opposition from the regional allies and within the American community.
The fact is that since Saudi Arabia and the Zionist regime have incurred huge costs in destroying Syria and the Assad government, the withdrawal of the U.S. from Syria has brought about fear for the allies. The experienced and strong resistance forces have full control over the conflict zones. Considering the political victories of the resistance forces in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, we understand the purpose of Pompeo's trip into the region and his effort to reassure Washington’s allies about the U.S. withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan.

Now, it's time for the triangle of Iran, Russia, and Turkey, to end the crisis of Syria quickly by designing plans that won’t allow John Bolton and Pompeo run Syria. Therefore, the U.S. Secretary of State has never been able to address the concerns of the regional allies. The U.S. naval movements in the Persian Gulf is also understandable.

Third viewpoint

The third issue is the discussion of the Polish Summit and the necessity of a global consensus on confronting Iran that Washington intends to exploit. It has apparently been announced that such summit was essential to hold to implement the plan to control Iran and Russia and to shape the Syrian political future and to force these countries to cooperate in Syria. They pretend to have shaped public opinion in the war on Iran as if they will soon launch that war and force Iran to negotiate and to submit to them. In this regards, a few points are worth considering:

The Polish Summit reminds us of the formation of a “group of friends of Syria!” A group formed by the participation of 85 countries to overthrow the Syrian government, but after a few years of its establishment, nobody knows about the fate of that coalition. The same countries are now in line to open their embassy in Damascus.

The summit in Poland shows a country that claimed to be a superpower and put Iran under the most severe pressures and sanctions for four decades, is no longer the old America, which alone cannot be an opponent of another country.

Pompeo called Russia and Iran “Middle Eastern vicious executors” and said that we hope to bring them along with the government and all the beneficiaries in Syria to discuss the future structure of Syria. This marks the complete disappointment of the U.S. diplomacy to intervene in the future of Syria. Undoubtedly, none of these elements will go to Warsaw, and this meeting will fail as well as other American strategies for Western Asia, as it is not consistent with reality.

All attempts to cut Iran from the Mediterranean region have failed so far and, without a doubt, we will see another way that China also connects to the Mediterranean Sea through Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. This has made Washington decide to spend huge sums in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

U.S. withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan are two current strategies in Iran, the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq is not a complex task. Americans are deeply concerned that sooner or later the resistance forces will take control of the borders of Iraq and Syria and that Americans will not be able to be border guards.

The Secretary of State's remarks in Cairo against Iran were not the statement of the foreign minister’s superpower and had very negative feedback from White House officials. Pompeo speaks of Iran as an invincible power, which is completely in the interest of Tehran.

Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran today, with all the problems arising from foreign sanctions, internal mismanagement, and factional rivalry should be proud to have become a powerful country. Trump is still frightened by how the Iranians resist imposed sanctions.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif well declared that “Americans must believe that they have lost Iran”. Therefore, the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State and the decisions of Trump to leave Syria and the summit of Poland all reflect the difficulties facing the U.S. Therefore, no war will break out in the region, but the United States will do its best to make Iran and its allies to converse. We must believe in ourselves.