The Biden – Harris administration’s missteps

Washington – WHIA Editorial

by Marah Bukai

Translation from Arabic by Dean Aesh

During his 2020 presidential campaign against former President Donald Trump, Joe Biden pledged that, if elected, he would immediately reverse Trump’s policies and overhaul his predecessor’s agenda. True to his word, within his first month in office, President Biden removed the Houthi organization from the terrorism list and executed the much-criticized withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump had previously used this withdrawal as a point of contention against Biden during their first presidential debate in June 2020, highlighting the chaos it engendered. However, Biden’s most detrimental action was loosening the stranglehold that Trump had placed around Tehran, allowing Iran to economically and politically regain its footing.

President Biden and his National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, believed that a policy of appeasement towards Iran and its regional proxies could bring the necessary stability to the Middle East. Biden complemented these policies with ambiguous and largely negative stances towards longstanding U.S. allies in the region. Sullivan frequently claimed that the Middle East seemed more peaceful under Biden’s tenure than it had in decades, until the events of October 7 unfolded. On that day, Iran-backed Hamas launched an attack beyond the Gaza Strip, causing significant upheaval.

The October 7 events and the ensuing fierce war launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip and its civilian population have significantly shifted the political mindset of a broad segment of youth globally, and particularly in the United States. Major American universities witnessed demonstrations and sit-ins in solidarity with the Palestinian people, raising the electoral temperature among the youth demographic that had previously supported Biden. This shift occurred in parallel with Biden’s often vague and uncritical support for Israel in its protracted conflict.

The Israeli war exacerbated instability in the Middle East, with unrest signaling a genuine crisis within the Biden administration, which struggled to control the violence perpetrated by Iran’s proxies across the region. From the Red Sea, where the Houthis engaged in maritime piracy, to Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, where chaos reigned through Iran-backed militias such as Hezbollah, the attacks continued to escalate.

The stark divergence between Biden and Trump lies in their opposing stances on Washington’s policies towards Iran and their strategies to address Iran’s violations of regional security, highlighted by the October 7 events.

Both, however, agree on the need to create conditions conducive to a more stable and peaceful Middle East. Strengthening relationships with regional partners remains the most crucial American initiative for securing a stable and secure Middle East. Yet, Biden’s approach to these historic partnerships, especially with the influential Gulf states, has been marked by recklessness and irresponsibility. Conversely, Trump bolstered these alliances, laying the groundwork for future peace through the Abraham Accords, signed between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain, and initiating the Arab-Israeli normalization process.

The fruits of Trump’s efforts were evident when a coalition, including the U.S., France, the U.K., the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel, intercepted and destroyed 300 Iranian missiles and drones launched at Israel on April 13. This direct Iranian attack on Israel was a significant escalation in their ongoing shadow war.

This coalition’s unified response marked substantial progress towards a long-standing bipartisan American goal in the Middle East: achieving a level of regional cooperation and presence that would eventually allow a measured U.S. withdrawal, leaving the Middle East to be managed locally with purely indigenous policies.

Given these developments, it is plausible to predict that whoever occupies the White House next year will likely seek to build upon these regional alliances. The primary reason for this outlook is the expanding sphere of Iran’s aggressive and destabilizing actions across the region, with Iranian-backed armed groups proliferating in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza.

While the debate continues over whether Iran had full prior knowledge of the Hamas attack on October 7, it is undeniable that Tehran continues to support the group financially and militarily. Even President Biden has acknowledged his firm belief in Iran’s involvement in the attack.