Beyond Oil in the Middle East

The attack on the Aramco oil facilities.

It created alarm not only in Saudi Arabia, but also in the United Arab Emirates and especially in Israel. It demonstrated the new capacity of the more accurate Iranian weapons systems and their strategy of using military force openly but through supposed surrogates giving Iran a fig leaf of deniability.

The withdrawal of US forces from northeast Syria and the direct intervention by Turkey appears to have worked to the advantage of Turkey, Russia, Iran and the government of Syria. How about civilians?

This is complex and no one better than Ambassador Thomas Pickering to unpack how the shift in US policy will affect the balance of power in the Middle East and how US policy will affect Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.

About Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering

Holds the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service. In a diplomatic career spanning five decades, he was U.S. ambassador to Israel, the Russian Federation, India, El Salvador, Nigeria, Jordan and the United Nations. He also served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.