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Weekend Reads
President Donald Trump’s strategy of alternating between forceful action and diplomatic outreach reflects the broad spectrum of viewpoints within his cabinet, from hawks to “restraintists.” Michael Doran argues that Trump’s oscillation between conflicting approaches actually serves a coherent strategy: it creates uncertainty for adversaries and gives Washington strategic flexibility.
Below, Doran explains how Trump can move beyond this strategy to advance US interests in the region—in particular, checking Iran while managing tensions between Turkey and Israel.
Key Insights
1. End Iran’s nuclear program.
Under the Biden administration, America’s traditional allies, Israel and Turkey, destroyed America’s traditional enemy, Iran, without speaking to one another, without US support, and in quiet defiance of Washington’s wishes. Trump has the chance to finish the job against Iran and dismantle its nuclear program, along with the missile and drone infrastructure that threatens its neighbors and supplies its proxy network. The policy he has charted so far has positioned him for success, but much hard work remains.
2. Mediate between Israel and Turkey.
Israel and Turkey will clash unless the US puts distance between them by stabilizing Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just presided over one of the most stunning military comebacks in Israeli history, after one of the most significant intelligence failures on October 7. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, has silenced his domestic opposition and sees a new regional map emerging—one that places Ankara at the center. Russia and Iran, once Turkey’s natural counterweights, are diminished. This rivalry represents the emerging central dynamic in the post-Iran regional order. Without careful American management, the Turkey-Israel rivalry could replace the Iran-Israel conflict as the region’s most dangerous flashpoint.
3. Protect US interests without overextending.
If the Trump administration brokers an understanding between Ankara and Jerusalem while neutralizing Iran, he will have shown that the US can lead without overextending. Trump can lay the foundation for a regional order that doesn’t collapse under its own contradictions—an order that offers the United States control over the oil resources, shipping lanes, investment capital, and intellectual property that are key to the economic future of most of the planet. The real choice is not between intervention and isolation. It is between strategic engagement that leverages America’s economic power and diplomatic reach and the ideological retreat that restraintists advocate.
Quotes may be edited for clarity and length.
Go Deeper
With Rebeccah Heinrichs, author and journalist Douglas Murray discussed his new book on how misplaced Western sympathy for terror groups could undermine the liberal values these activists claim to support.
Walter Russell Mead discussed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to the White House and how tariffs are concentrating power in President Trump’s hands on What Really Matters.
In a 2021 Tablet article, Michael Doran and Tony Badran explain the Obama-Biden strategy of creating a Middle East order that balances Iran against Israel—and how this “realignment” strategy delivered major victories to Tehran, Beijing, and Moscow.
