Obama’s Middle East Foreign Policy: Decline or Rise of the Middle East Importance

When Obama became the U.S. president, new policy toward war in Afghanistan and Iraq, that costs the U.S. dearly, was declared to respond to American’s needs and interests. The “Pivot” or “Rebalance” of power moved toward a larger region instead of the Middle East, e.g. the vast potential of the Asia Pacific region. In this light, the paper’s main question is “What is the importance of the Middle East in Obama’s foreign policy? And the response is “Obama’s policy toward Middle East is in decline for the rise of East Asia importance.” During Obama administration, the decline of the U.S. power and the precieved threat of china and muslim radicalism forced him to deal with Iran as a regional power in the Middle East, and China as a regional power in the East Asia. Therefore, in a coherent strategy, Obama insisted to keep negotiations with Iran as the greatest strategic challenge in the Middle East. Accordingly, nuclear talks with Iran and also talks with Persian Gulf countries through Camp David in ۲۰۱۵, can be regarded as the U.S. willingness in GCC– Iran engagement. Simultaneously and more importantly, pivot to Asia is a “full spectrum force” i.e., utilizing a smaller and more agile and advanced military force posture along side with economic strength to fulfill U.S. economic need i.e., jobs, export and investment in order to sustain U.S. global leadership in manage the rising China. Pivot to Asia is a formula for the ۲۱th century that will empower U.S. in ۲۲th century.

Keywords:

Obama , National Interest , leadership , pivot to Asia , the Middle East , the East Asia