June 4, 2026 | The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Needs Its Mideast Bases
If America won’t finish the job in Iran, leaving the Gulf Arab states would turn a failure into a rout.
June 4, 2026 | The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Needs Its Mideast Bases
If America won’t finish the job in Iran, leaving the Gulf Arab states would turn a failure into a rout.
Excerpt
It’s called the Persian Gulf for a reason. Iran has dominated this crucial waterway except when in internal disarray or checked by an outside power, namely Portugal, the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain and, after 1971, the U.S.
Oman, which has tried to improve relations with the Islamic Republic for years, has always stood apart from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. So it wouldn’t be surprising to see Oman agree to establish a tolling regimen with Tehran for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the choke point to the Persian Gulf.
Mr. Gerecht is a resident scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.