Authored by Simon Watkins via OilPrice,
Few could argue with U.S. President Donald Trump's key objective in launching 'Operation Epic Fury' against Iran on February 28 - to prevent Iran from ever being able to develop a nuclear weapon. All members of his Cabinet fully backed this aim at the time, as they did the other three: to effect regime change, to critically degrade Iran's ballistic missile capability, and to neutralize the ability of its proxies, especially Hamas and Hezbollah, to cause mayhem across the Middle East and the world.
The degree to which these objectives have been achieved so far is a matter for debate, but what is not is that Washington's closest Arab allies now harbor deep misgivings over America's ability to shield them from the Iranian hornet's nest that U.S. attacks have provoked. This has again made them more susceptible to the soothing assurances from Beijing that it can keep them safe from the terror of Tehran over the long term. This situation, in turn, threatens Trump's 'Abraham Accords' plan that lay at the heart of his Middle East foreign policy, as fully examined in my latest book on the new global oil market order. Several recent moves by leading Middle East power Saudi Arabia underline this threat.
The most recent was the announcement from Saudi oil and gas flagship Aramco that it and the Kingdom are seeking to partner with other countries to expand their strategic oil stockpile. Despite the perennial taking up of its crude production capa
