Posted originally on CTH on May 7, 2026 | Sundance 

In recent developments President Trump’s ‘project freedom’ operation to open the Strait of Hormuz for captured shipping interests has been paused following Saudi Arabia’s withdrawal of support and their revocation of Saudi air bases for U.S. operations.

The issue behind the Saudi decision is not that complicated if you understand the longer-term background.  However, the issue behind the Saudi decision also highlights a key ¹flaw in the Promethean analysis of the relationship (and the reason I caution everyone to sip slowly from this information source).

The cliff notes version is that Saudi Arabia and many of the Gulf States look at the negotiations between President Trump and Iranian interests with skepticism.  The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) wants a complete and final elimination of the threat Iran represents. They do not believe Iran can be negotiated out of that threat.  The GCC view negotiations as an Iranian delay tactic.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salmon, the main voice in the GCC position, has clear eyes and a long historic view on the threat Iran represents. They accept the people in control of the Iran regime will do and say anything to pause or remove the military confrontation; but they will never stop building the arsenal for war. There is zero, absolutely zero trust in anything the Iranians say on this matter.

As a consequence, Saudi Arabia understands the intent of President Trump’s request to support ‘project freedom’, however Saudi Arabia is not going to accept continued missile attacks from Iran during this ‘humanitarian’ effort to reopen the Strait. [Remember, this is also a Muslim Brotherhood issue.  The Brotherhood is the political network behind extremist Islam.]

President Trump is asking Saudi Arabia and the GCC states to view the continued Iranian attacks as small slights, small provocations, while he diplomatically tries to negotiate with the Iranian regime.  MbS and the GCC are unwilling to take this position, to accept these continued attacks against their nations, simply to give President Trump the political benefit of his policy.

Again, the Saudi’s and GCC have been dealing with this extremist threat for decades. They are unwilling to compromise in order to give space for negotiations they view as futile.  The U.S. can use all Saudi support venues to confront Iran militarily, but they are not going to support the political and diplomatic effort behind ‘project freedom’ while they are simultaneously expected to accept continued attacks from Iran.

NBC News reported that Saudi Arabia revoked U.S. access to its bases for Project Freedom, a mission to safeguard the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian threats. A call between Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman failed to resolve the dispute, forcing the administration to pause the operation. Political commentators described the move as a significant strategic loss for the U.S. in the Gulf region. (source)

Essentially, the U.S. cannot say to the GCC:
“Please open your skies and bases,” thereby exposing their energy infrastructure, only for everyone to discover afterwards the actual American policy was apparently: “Oh by the way, if Iran attacks you with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones in several waves, we won’t retaliate because we are chasing a negotiated deal.  And this is exactly what shocked the Saudis.

It was not the issue of the Iranian attack; after all, the UAE/GCC expect retaliation – this is Iran; no one in the Gulf is naïve about that.  The shock came from the American reaction after the attacks against the GCC. Attacks against Emirati infrastructure, Fujairah was targeted, multiple waves involving drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles.  And from their perspective Washington’s response was basically:
“Meh. Minor incident. Let’s not escalate.” Minor incident?! From the perspective of the GCC this is madness.  Thus, they withdraw support.

¹This is where it becomes critical to understand the position of the GCC as it relates to well over a decade of this Muslim Brotherhood/Iran extremist activity.  It is not President Trump who triggered the GCC assembly to fight this radical Islamic extremism, a bastardized view of authentic Islam, it was Egypt and the GCC who have been confronting this stuff since President Obama triggered the “Arab Spring”.

Long before President Trump took office in 2017, Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi had confronted the Muslim Brotherhood and assembled a coalition of mid-east partners to address this Islamist threat.  Sisi went to see King Salmon (MbS dad) first, to get his support.  Egypt then assembled Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan to confront Qatar, who was the bankers for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The GCC with all stable Arab state support then economically and diplomatically boycotted and isolated Qatar.  The Qataris finally acquiesced to the pressure and in September 2014 the exiled leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood who were living in Qatar were sent to Turkey.

Egypt and the GCC have been confronting all of the tentacles from the Muslim Brotherhood for more than thirteen years now. All of these factions of radical Islam, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS and more, come from this political apparatus represented by the Brotherhood, which is ideologically and structurally aligned in common cause with the extremism represented by the Iranian regime.

This is the background context for Saudi and GCC support for President Trump to finish the “drive them out of power” approach that Trump himself spoke of in 2017 during the Arab assembly.  From the position of the GCC, they have done everything they can to destroy radical Islamic elements, now they need the power of the USA to eliminate what remains of it in Iran.

Saudi Arabia and the GCC view Iran as an existential threat that cannot be dealt with diplomatically and they do not trust any negotiation.

The most positive data points in all the U.S. activity against Iran have been two facets.  First, the complete support of the Gulf Arab states for President Trump’s military confrontation of Iran.  Second, Qatar joining in strong alignment with the gulf states against both Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Qatar always sat on the fence with one foot supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran, and the other foot supporting moderate Gulf Arab states.  The difference between Qatar in 2015 and Qatar in 2026 is, quite frankly, remarkable – IF IT IS TRUE (I’m not convinced).

The GCC started their long battle against the Muslim Brotherhood in 2011, and frustratingly, they’re still standing on that same platform 15 years later. That’s why they’re not about to let Iran attack them while President Trump pursues a peace deal they see as worthless.

Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the GCC and even Qatar now holds the position that all political power structures within Iran must be destroyed.

It’s not just Israel urging President Trump to take action against Iran. In fact, history shows that support from Israel is actually less than the backing he’s getting from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the GCC for ongoing military strikes against Iran.

Last point, that reality is also what makes the Tucker Carlson viewpoint look ridiculous and indicates he has some alternative motive behind his position.

Hope that helps.