Aftandilian in The Arab Weekly on Trump and Saudi Arabia
Gregory Aftandilian, Lecturer at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent Op-Ed examining whether United States President Donald Trump will support Saudi Arabia in a confrontation with Iran.
Aftandilian’s Op-Ed, entitled “Can the US Help Riyadh Stand Up to Iran?” was published in The Arab Weekly on November 26, 2017.
From the text of the article:
US President Donald Trump seems to like what the Saudi leadership is doing both domestically and regionally. The latter, in particular, fits into Trump’s narrative that their mutual enemy, Iran, is engaged in destabilising activities in the Middle East that must be stopped.
However, assisting the Saudis and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in a direct confrontation with Iran is likely a bridge too far for Washington.
There seems to be little daylight between Trump and the Saudis vis-à-vis Iran. Indeed, during his speech in Riyadh in May, Trump said that from “Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms and trains terrorists, militias and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region.”
Trump has even weighed in on Saudi domestic politics, saying he has “great confidence” in King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, after reports that he dismissed several high-ranking officials from their posts and arrested some leading Saudis for alleged corruption, adding that they “know exactly what they are doing.”
Aftandilian spent over 21 years in government service, most recently on Capitol Hill where he was foreign policy adviser to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (2007-2008), professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and foreign policy adviser to Senator Paul Sarbanes (2000-2004), and foreign policy fellow to the late Senator Edward Kennedy (1999).