SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: The United States and the Manufacturing of Unnecessary Tension: A Wake-Up Call for Arab States.

https://x.com/timand2037/status/2020602744906891743

@timand2037

Trump on the verge of disaster. The United States and the Manufacturing of Unnecessary Tension: A Wake-Up Call for Arab States. The recent report by *The Washington Post* revealing that Iran has warned several Gulf Arab states, including Qatar, that any future retaliation against U.S. military bases will no longer be symbolic marks a dangerous turning point for the region. According to the report, Tehran has made it clear that any American miscalculation could result in the deaths of U.S. soldiers. This message should not be read as mere rhetoric; it is a strategic warning whose implications extend far beyond Washington and directly affect Arab countries hosting American forces. For years, many Arab states have sought to insulate themselves from major regional confrontations, prioritizing internal stability, economic development, and regional de-escalation. Yet the extensive U.S. military presence across the Gulf has effectively pulled these countries into the heart of the confrontation between Washington and Tehran. Decisions about war and peace are not made in Doha, Manama, or Kuwait City, but in Washington—often under the influence of Israeli strategic calculations—while Arab capitals are left to absorb the consequences. The remarks of John Mearsheimer, one of the most prominent international relations scholars, underscore this contradiction. His assertion that Donald Trump does not want to enter a prolonged war of attrition with Iran reflects a clear understanding within Washington that such a conflict would be costly, uncontrollable, and strategically counterproductive. Yet this awareness stands in stark contrast to U.S. behavior on the ground. By reinforcing its military footprint and issuing escalating threats, the United States is actively raising tensions and pushing the region toward the brink, even in the absence of a clear decision to go to war. Equally significant is the role played by Israel in this escalation. Multiple reports indicate sustained Israeli pressure on Washington to take military action against Iran. Israel, which does not host U.S. bases and would not bear the immediate consequences of Iranian retaliation, is effectively encouraging a confrontation whose fallout would primarily hit Arab states. Iran’s repeated warnings that any attack launched “from any location” would be met with a wide-ranging response should be taken seriously by governments that host American military infrastructure. At the same time, as Al Jazeera has pointed out, the circulation of distorted casualty figures and selective narratives—used both to prepare the ground for a strike on Iran and to whitewash Israeli actions in Gaza—signals a broader effort to normalize escalation. Such media and political framing does not enhance security; it destabilizes the region and turns Arab states into collateral arenas for conflicts that do not serve their national interests. The central danger facing the region today is therefore not an inevitable war, but a pattern of U.S. policies that generate unnecessary tension, amplified by Israeli pressure and pursued with little regard for the security and political costs imposed on Arab countries. If this trajectory continues, the fragile stability of the Gulf will be increasingly at risk. Arab capitals may find themselves paying the highest price for strategic choices they did not make, in a confrontation they neither initiated nor control.

7:56 AM · Feb 9, 2026