Interview: Trump administration's 1st 100 days push Mideast further into "arena of destruction," says expert

BEIRUT, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The Trump administration's first 100 days in office have pushed the Middle East further into "an arena of deals and more destruction," a Lebanese expert has said.

The administration's handling of Mideast affairs exposed a foreign policy approach driven by short-term interests, reckless bargaining and a dangerous erosion of international norms, said Waref Kumayha, president of the Silk Road Institute for Studies and Research in Lebanon.

Citing Washington's unconditional support for Israel over the years, the expert said the current administration went further to endorse Israel's settlement expansions, moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and attempted to dismantle UN agencies supporting Palestinian refugees.

These moves, Kumayha said, emboldened Israel's aggressive actions, resulting in severe humanitarian crises, particularly in Gaza.

He also highlighted the situation in Lebanon, where Israeli military operations expanded from border villages to its capital, Beirut, with hundreds of casualties reported.

"Instead of calling for restraint, Washington blamed Lebanese resistance groups, giving Israel a free hand under the pretext of self-defense," he said, adding that over a million Lebanese civilians were displaced amid widespread devastation.

Kumayha argued that the current U.S. administration politicized economic ties with Gulf states, prioritizing coercive tactics over building genuine partnerships.

"Massive Gulf investments in the U.S. economy were less about natural cooperation and more about avoiding political and security pressure," he said.

On Iran, Kumayha described Washington's recent decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear agreement and reimpose maximum sanctions as a trigger for heightened military tensions across the region.

"Rather than achieving any strategic goals, the 'maximum pressure' campaign only pushed the region closer to large-scale conflict and deepened instability," he said.

Critical of the current U.S. administration's handling of the Yemen conflict, Kumayha said that it entrenched the logic of open warfare and contributed to rising threats to regional maritime security, particularly in the Red Sea.

The Middle East, he concluded, does not need empty promises of investment, but policies rooted in justice, dignity and respect for the rights of its peoples. Enditem