68
The Gulf states never anticipated Iran’s strategy of pressuring the US by targeting them, because they never anticipated US indifference to their security. Their reputation for safety and stability in tatters, they will pay a heavy price.
BERLIN – It can take generations to build a reputation for reliability – and a matter of weeks to destroy it. That asymmetry is the most important strategic fact of the current US-Israeli war against Iran. This conflict’s most harmful consequence will figure in no damage assessment, and no postwar reconstruction fund will be able to repair it. What is being degraded is the premise that the Gulf is a reliable place to conduct the world’s business.
