Please Click LIKE at the bottom of this commentary, and share it everywhere!! By Craig Andresen – The National Patriot – Commentary
Last week, it was reported that senior military leaders held a private meeting in Germany to discuss the ongoing conflict with Iran and regional security. That meeting, as it has been called, was engineered by the U.S., and hosted by Admiral Brad Cooper, included the military chiefs of staff from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and Egypt.
That in and of itself is remarkable because the participants don’t always agree with one another regarding political, cultural or military points of view, but it gets even more remarkable when one considers the one participant not included in the aforementioned list – Israel.
That’s right, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir had an equal seat at that most incredible assemblage of military leaders. From what we know, Adm. Cooper reassured participants that the U.S. would maintain its military footprint in the Middle East despite recent regional escalations and attacks on American bases but that was just the opening statement. The topics under discussion included an exchange of intelligence and assessments regarding regional war developments and Iranian attacks on military installations, reviewed American strategic proposals to safeguard and expand protected commercial ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and the recent escalations involving Houthi forces in Yemen.
That last one, regarding the Houthi forces in Yemen, was perhaps THE most surprising part of the whole meeting because of potential intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) coordination between ISRAEL and SAUDI ARABIA via CENTCOM.
Remember, when this action against Iran started, Saudi Arabia refused to allow the U.S. to engage from the bases our country built in their country, and the Saudi Arabian leadership also refused to assist in using their own military (most of which came from the U.S.) to secure the Strait of Hormuz. Adding to the astonishing nature of it all is the age-old, one-sided hatred of Israel by Saudi Arabia…because, you know…Arabs and Jews.
After the Houthis attacked the Saudi oil pipeline, suddenly, yet not surprisingly, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) reportedly started begging the U.S. for help in dealing with the Houthis in Yemen. It seems that President Trump, citing the Saudi’s refusal to get involved when they had the chance, turned down the Saudi request, but not flatly…he tossed them a lifeline – Israel.
The history of the Arabs hating the Jews is readily available if you care to do some homework, but let me put this current situation into its proper context. The Saudis, while they don’t particularly like the Iranian regime, declined to get involved when asked because they didn’t want to take sides against their “Arab brothers.” Add to that the fact that the Saudi leadership, while not wanting to provide the “Palestinian” people with a slice of the Saudi desert, again they see Israel’s ongoing military action against Hamas in Gaza, and Israel’s pounding of Hezbollah in Lebanon as attacks against fellow Arabs.
That said, when the terrorist chickens came home to roost, attacking Saudi ships in the Strait of Hormuz, combined with the Houthi attacks on Saudi ships in the Red Sea followed by the blowing up of the Saudi pipeline…well…that was more than MBS could take, and karma can be a bitch but that’s just the beginning of it.
For years, dating back to his first term, President Trump has been trying to get Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations to join the Abraham Accords but so far only United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan have done so. In that meeting just over a week ago, along with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and Egypt remain as Arab State holdouts with regard to the Abraham Accords, but wait…there’s more.
Recently, Saudi Arabia signed on as a charter member of the Mecca Defense Pact with Turkey, and Pakistan. MBS bet the ranch that a pact with anybody but Israel would protect his ships, his bases and his pipeline – until karma slapped him across the face. Turns out that the Mecca Pact wasn’t worth what comes out of the south-bound end of a north-bound camel because neither Turkey nor Pakistan ever had any inclination to engage in military action against the Iranian regime.
It would be far more likely that both Turkey and Pakistan are trying to aid the Islamic regime in Iran even though both those countries have been the target of threats issued by Iran regarding their border closures due to Operation Outcast. Saudi Arabia on the other hand, has been targeted directly by Iran as well as by Iran’s proxy terrorist organizations, making Saudi Arabia desperate enough to seek any port in a storm (so to speak) other than Israel. As it is readily apparent that Iran has reaped the rewards for decades of money laundering and shell companies operated by Turkey and Pakistan, having such lifelines shut down by U.S. sanctions isn’t making the Iranian regime very happy.
It is also apparent that the Trump administration has a very clear understanding of what Turkey and Pakistan are up to and what the Mecca Pact really is – a way to keep tabs on U.S. plans and to keep Israel in check. I say the Trump administration has a clear understanding due to the fact that neither Turkey nor Pakistan were invited to the meeting in Germany.
This is where I believe the larger picture is starting to emerge.
Regime change in Iran is long, long overdue, but that alone won’t bring peace to the Middle East. It is a big step in the right direction, but peace in that region cannot be achieved until there is stability…something of which President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and even Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are well aware and the blueprint for that stability is the Abraham Accords. The aforementioned U.S. team is also well aware that the key to stability in the Middle East is Israel.
As I previously mentioned, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan have already signed on with the Abraham Accords showing that they understand setting aside old grudges against the Jews for a new era of cooperation is highly beneficial, and reports last week seem to signal that Kuwait may soon join the Abraham accords as well. But the holdouts – Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are dragging their feet in the sands of time.
Saudi Arabia holds the key that will open the door to the rest of the holdouts joining, and I believe President Trump knows it. Get MBS to sign Saudi Arabia onto the Abraham Accords and the rest will follow, but how?
Four dimensional chess.
The Saudi’s refused to allow our military to operate from our own bases in their country, built to help defend the Saudis from Iranian terrorists, and Iran not only hit our base in Saudi Arabia, but they also started hitting Saudi oil tankers and Saudi infrastructure. Saudi Arabia relented and allowed us to engage from our base located on their sandy soil, but the Saudi military still refused to engage against the IRGC.
Saudi Arabia then started using the Red Sea ports rather than the Strait of Hormuz, and what happened? Iran’s proxies hit Saudi ships in the Red Sea. Saudi oil started flowing through their pipeline and what did Iran do? They had their Houthi proxy attack the Saudi pipeline, and when the MBS implored Turkey and Pakistan to honor the Mecca Pact, Turkey and Pakistan said…nope.
While all of this was happening, two other very important things were also happening. 1) Israel was eliminating more and more Hamas leadership in Gaza while simultaneously pounding Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in cooperation with the Lebanese government. And 2) President Trump was sitting back, watching and waiting.
When MBS asked the U.S. for help after the Saudi pipeline was attacked, I suspect he was reminded of how he declined to allows the U.S. military’s use of our base, and further reminded of his refusal to allow the Saudi military to assist in protecting shipping via Hormuz, but in this high-stakes game of four dimensional chess, President Trump did not slam the door on MBS…he tossed Saudi Arabia lifeline. A very carefully crafted lifeline.
MBS was apparently told that we were busy dealing with the Iranian regime both militarily, and economically, and that Saudi Arabia’s problem was the Houthis, but Israel would be willing to help with ISR – intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. And that brings us to that unprecedented September 15th meeting in Germany, engineered by the U.S., hosted by Admiral Brad Cooper of U.S. CENTCOM where the military chiefs of staff from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and Egypt – along with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir all sat down for a little chat.
Israeli intel on the Houthis was shared with Saudi Arabia using CENTCOM as the go-between and Saudi Arabia used that ISR to target and hit the Houthi positions. Imagine that…a virtually one-sided grudge going back to the 7th century and really gaining anti Semitic momentum over the past two centuries cracked on September 15th, 2026, in of all places…Germany.
It’s not the finished big picture as there are still many pieces of the puzzle on the table, but not yet assembled. MBS has now seen that Israel is willing to help Saudi Arabia, but he has not yet issued a public statement regarding normalizing relations with Israel, or about the Abraham Accords. MBS also knows that the Houthis are now targeting Mecca and he is realizing that the Jews are ready to work with the Arabs to protect the Muslim holy city…and that’s huge.
MBS also wants nuclear power for Saudi Arabia, and he knows that is contingent upon normalized relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords…and that is an added carrot on the stick.
Last week, undaunted by regional challenges, the United States, Morocco and Israel reaffirmed the spirit of the Abraham Accords as they continue to believe the establishment of full diplomatic, peaceful and friendly relations between Morocco and Israel is in the common interest of both countries and will advance the cause of peace and unlock new opportunities for the entire region. In fact, Israel and Morocco have agreed to open embassies in their respective countries following the trilateral talks between their senior diplomats and the United States ambassador to the United Nations in New York.
That too is a very positive sign to the holdouts in the region that Israel is not the problem, but the key to stability in the Middle East.
President Trump will meet on Tuesday, September 22nd with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman as a follow-up to the September 15th meeting in Germany to discuss the current state of the conflict, postwar strategy, regional impacts and the all important next steps for regional security and stability. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold separate meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio while at the U.N. on September 22nd.
These are just some of the moving pieces and perhaps a few of the biggest as yet unresolved issues are when the Iranian people (who are slowly being armed) will get the word from Prince Reza Pahlavi to rise up, will the U.S. military resume an all out kinetic campaign which would likely include coordination with Israel, and while we know that the Iranian regime is terrified of all of the above…when will they launch their last-ditch apocalyptic strikes?
As to what those Iranian regime final desperate strikes will look like, it has often been said that a truly evil man will burn his country to the ground to rule over the ashes.
Copyright © 2026 Craig Andresen / thenationalpatriot.com all rights reserved
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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Diane Sori’s latest Op-Ed at The Patriot Factor, The Good, The Bad, The Politics of “AI”
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Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 22nd from 7 to 8:30pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss ‘‘The Good, The Bad, The Politics of “AI”’; “The Future of the Middle East – The Bigger Picture”and important news of the day. Tune in to RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on https://rspradio1.com Click ‘LISTEN LIVE.’
