Trump’s Middle East

On Monday, April 24, the Center for the National Interest hosted an event titled “Trump’s Middle East,” featuring speakers Philip Gordon, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Special Assistant to the President for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf Region during the Obama administration, and Michael Singh, managing director and Lane-Swig Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute on Near East Policy and a former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs during the George W. Bush administration. The event was moderated by Geoffrey Kemp, Senior Director of Regional Security Programs at the Center for the National Interest and former NSC Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs during the Reagan administration. Gordon and Singh covered a range of topics, from Syria and the Iran nuclear deal to the fight against the Islamic State group and its stance on Israeli settlement building. The two speakers were in agreement at how difficult it is to discern what Trump’s Middle East policy will be, given the various changes in stance in the administration’s first months in office.

An article summarizing the the event’s proceedings can be found here.