The Americans Are Backing Out of the Middle East

On Saturday, President Donald Trump again backed out of his threats to resume bombing Iran, claiming progress in negotiations and deference to the influence of Saudi Arabia. Negotiations are scheduled to continue today.

• International media claim the U.S. and Iran have reached a “compromise” agreement where the U.S. has accepted Iran maintaining some level of control over merchant shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Whether Iran will use this to implement a tolling system and the U.S. would allow this remains uncertain.

The U.S. is also nearing a “full withdrawal from Iraq,” including Iraqi Kurdistan, Al-Monitor reported Friday, stating that U.S. Patriot missile batteries have already been removed. All U.S. forces are scheduled to leave Iraq by September 30.

Seventy percent of Americans believe “negotiating a permanent ceasefire with Iran” is an extremely or very important goal, an Associated Press/University of Chicago poll released on July 30 suggests.

• The same poll suggests only a third of Americans believe the Iran war was worth fighting.
• Such numbers are surely informing President Trump’s decisions leading up to November’s midterm elections.

The U.S. is starting to give up on the Middle East. President Trump has wanted to exit the Iran conflict for months, but he has held out for some kind of gain he can portray as a victory. It looks like he is now abandoning even that hope, and Americans are unwilling to continue the fight.

When President Trump contemplated a similar move in Syria, the Trumpet wrote in “America Is Back … ing Out” (March 2019):

While some may rejoice over America’s withdrawal from the Middle East, the Bible reveals that its absence portends the most destructive period this war-weary region has ever seen.

America’s decline in global influence is one of the most important end-time prophecies you can watch, particularly for what will rise to fill the void.