The United States Is Now a Guarantor of Last Resort
Key takeaways
- Every administration since President Barack Obama’s first term has promised to look past the Middle East.
- That distinction is what would let Washington’s real priorities survive the next crisis instead of being shelved by it.
- Doha, Riyadh, and Islamabad handled the diplomacy with Tehran that no U.S. administration can do credibly.
Every administration since President Barack Obama’s first term has promised to look past the Middle East. Under Obama and later President Joe Biden, that meant the Indo-Pacific; under President Donald Trump, it means bringing the United States back home—the Western Hemisphere first and the Indo-Pacific second. Each was pulled back in by a crisis it could not avoid.
The 2026 Iran war suggested a different outcome. The Gulf states, working with Turkey and Pakistan, showed they could carry the diplomatic burden of managing Iran themselves, and a share of the security burden, too, provided Washington stayed guarantor of last resort, not manager of first resort. That distinction is what would let Washington’s real priorities survive the next crisis instead of being shelved by it.
Every administration since President Barack Obama’s first term has promised to look past the Middle East. Under Obama and later President Joe Biden, that meant the Indo-Pacific; under President Donald Trump, it means bringing the United States back home—the Western Hemisphere first and the Indo-Pacific second. Each was pulled back in by a crisis it could not avoid.