Heres the roadmap the Trump admin needs to follow in order to win the Middle East

The incoming administration of Donald Trump is inheriting a house on fire in the Middle East, but there is a big opportunity for a win there if his new team is prepared to be bold.It will require some risky foreign policy moves that might not align with his campaign’s domestic focus — but down this path may lie a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump.“Trump wants to ‘win,’” said Robert Hamilton, Head of Eurasia Research at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. “It could range from prevailing in a war with Iran to brokering a wide-ranging regional peace deal.”It would also be a fundamental shift from the Biden administration’s approach, which often appeared indecisive and risk-averse, and focused more on de-escalation than solutions.

In many Arab countries, where weakness is disdained, there is openness to a paradigm shift.Such a shift would involve risking escalation with Iran, where the threat of force may be needed.It would also require offering not only the expected support but tough love to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose supporters are jubilantly expecting a free hand on all fronts.Trump’s foreign policy cabinet choices up to now are certainly in line with the former.

Senator Marco Rubio (headed to State), Mike Waltz (National Security Advisor), and Pete Hegseth (Defense) are all different types of appointments — Rubio stands out as a widely perceived pragmatist — but all are Iran hawks.If Trump succeeds in any of this — plus in ending the Ukraine war on terms not considered a capitulation to Vladimir Putin — it would be a legacy-building validation for a new-old president who has generally not enjoyed much credit around the world.This is a roadmap the next administration could take to make the Middle East great again.“This regime can no longer be appeased,” Rubio said recently of Iran’s mullahs — and turning that into policy would be a huge step in the right direction.It could come down to something simple:...