Think thanks are making attempts to persuade the reinstated Donald Trump administration to take an iron fist approach to West Asia in light of news that US government bodies are making moves to begin pulling troops out. 

The Vandenberg Coalition, an American neoconservative think tank headed by Elliott Abrams, a US politician who held foreign policy positions in the offices of presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Trump, published a report with their recommendations on how the 47^th president should handle the region.  

Mainly, the report seeks to have Trump’s administration ensure that the region remains in line with American interests by seeing to it that olive branches are not to be extended to nations like Iran, China, or Russia.  

"To protect U.S. security and ensure America has the resources to deter and confront adversaries outside of the Middle East, we must implement new policies toward the region," the report reads.  

The think tank lays out multiple methods as to how the reinstated White House Administration should act towards all of the nations of West Asia, whether they house forces hostile to the US or are Gulf allies.  

The report sees Iran as the major roadblock to expanding US power over the region. It calls the Islamic Republic "the greatest threat to American interests in the Middle East and the cause of most of the region’s security problems." 

The coalition calls on Trump to reinstate "maximum pressure" on the Islamic Republic in order to deter it from gaining influence. 

On the economic front, it demands that Washington fully enforce existing US oil sanctions so as to prevent economic growth via business between Iran and China. 

Hostile words alluding to military action against Iran are littered throughout the report. It notes that the US should make Iran "pay" in the case that allied Resistance Axis forces carry out operations against an invading American force and considers it an attack carried out by Tehran. 

"Any attack on U.S. forces or military assets by proxies must be considered an attack by Iran so as to encourage deterrence," the report read. "The proxy attacks will not cease until Iran is made to pay a serious price for them. That should be US policy, communicated unequivocally to Iran." 

The Washington Institute, another US neoconservative think tank, also states in a report that the US should increase pressure on Iran. Its author, Michael Singh, outrightly declares that Washington should look towards a military solution as a means to combat Tehran’s nuclear enrichment project in place of complex diplomacy.  

"One of the difficulties with diplomatic resolutions to nuclear crises is that they require the sort of domestic buy-in that was not obtained in America for either the Agreed Framework or JCPOA," Singh wrote. "Given Iran’s vulnerability and the advanced state of its nuclear program, the Trump administration would be remiss not to consider, and indeed prepare seriously for, military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program." 

In regards to other West Asian countries, the Vandenberg coalition says that the US should keep its presence and sphere of influence in Iraq and Syria to prevent Iranian-backed groups from gaining power, as well as to try and cut off growing ties with China and Russia.  

It supports the Israeli annexation of Syria’s land and attacks on military sites, adding that Washington should back such military moves by Tel Aviv.

"America must strongly support Israel’s efforts to identify, secure, and destroy the former Assad regime’s military infrastructure and chemical weapons stockpiles," the Vandenberg Coalition’s report reads. "The United States must continue to allow Israel to obliterate these sites and equipment lest militant groups seize them." 

As for Lebanon, the coalition says that the Lebanese Republic should be treated "as a state captured by Iran" so far as Hezbollah exists.  

It claims that "Israel" is the only capable body that can "secure the Israeli-Lebanese border," and condemns the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by saying that they and other international organizations are too outspoken about "Israeli defensive actions." 

It wrongly justifies "Israel’s" occupation of Lebanese territory, done so under the guise of border protection, by pinning the blame on Hezbollah for breaking the 27 November ceasefire agreement.  

The reality is that during the 60-day ceasefire, Israeli violations were north of 1,300; this includes the imposed ceasefire as well as breaches of UN Resolution 1701, with "Israel" targeting areas north of the Litani River. The counter continues to climb as the Israeli army is still bombing Lebanese territory during this extended ceasefire. 

For its part, Hezbollah launched one "initial warning defensive response" against the Israeli army’s Ruwaysat al-Alam site after multiple violations by the Israeli forces.  

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The claim that "Israel" should stay in Lebanon is also a view held by the Hudson Institute’s Rebeccah Heinrichs, who claims Hezbollah’s presence in the south, generalizing the entire region and not just south of the Litani, is justification for "Israel’s" occupation of Lebanese territory.  

When it comes to recommended actions against Palestine, the Vandenberg Coalition says that Gazan sovereignty should be replaced with overseers from volunteer Arab States vetted by the Americans, noting that "American policymakers should prohibit the participation of any entities with longstanding support for Hamas." 

The main goal for US foreign policy regarding Palestine, according to the think tank, is to "prioritize the security of Israel and our Arab partners," Palestinian rights will only go so far as the Americans will allow them.  

"Israel’s" Institute for National Security Studies’ Chuck Freilich gave the opinion that Trump should help with the idea of creating a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation instead of looking at a viable means for Palestinians to stay on their lands.  

Trump seems to have taken this view, as he said during a February 5 presser with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that neighboring nations should absorb the Palestinians living in Gaza. 

"Being in [Gaza’s] presence just has not been good, and it should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there," Trump said. "Instead, we should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, [...] and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction and frankly bad luck."

The US president failed to mention "Israel" as being the reason for the death and destruction of the besieged enclave, instead, referring to them as "wonderful people."

Normalization between "Israel" and Arab states is still also a significant goal of these recommendations. Both the American Vandenberg Coalition and the Israeli think tank, The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, call for an expansion of the Abraham Accords under the guise of creating a strong network to combat Iran.  

The coalition also declares that the US should remove "unwarranted" restrictions to arms sales with "Israel", noting, "Arming Israel in a timely manner shows Iran and its proxies that the United States stands shoulder to shoulder with its ally."

Even Gulf states that have taken positions very kind to America and "Israel" historically are being targeted as nations in need of American discipline. 

Growing ties with China are listed as a reason for cracking down on Saudi Arabian, Qatari, and UAE ambitions, as the three nations have been in talks with Beijing on military matters, a subject which Washington sees as a notable threat.  

Censorship of Saudi Arabian speech is also a part of the recommended acts, noting, "Saudi Arabia should be asked to stop rhetoric about Iran or Israel that creates any confusion about the Kingdom’s allegiances," highlighting statements made at the 2024 Arab League in which Riyadh called on Washington to respect Iran’s sovereignty.

The Vandenberg coalition called on Trump to revoke Qatar’s Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status due to its "overt support of Hamas and other Iranian-affiliated terrorist groups."

In Yemen, there are calls for the Americans to conduct operations in the Red Sea to ensure the safe travel of ships, and "destroy Iranian ships," as a means of fulfilling this goal.  

It also calls for the US to discipline UN bodies operating in West Asia, the Vandenberg Coalition outrightly declares that Washington should "immediately cease all funding to UNRWA" and authorize UNIFIL to be able to independently search private property in South Lebanon to find weapon caches. 

If UNIFIL doesn’t comply, the recommended act is for the US to halt all voluntary funding to the group.  

The coalition states that the US should also "vet potential appointments of senior UN officials" in order to "prevent conflicts of interest." 

What these think tanks desire from Trump’s administration is for it to adopt a Henry Kissinger-esque view of America first policy towards West Asia, meaning that the US and its Israeli ally should always come before the natives of the land by any means necessary.  

Trump’s vision of pulling out troops from the region is undesirable to these academic hawks because they view that without the policing of America, the region’s nations will turn their back to Washington and benefit adversaries like China or Iran.  

Neoconservatives want a diplomatic strategy from Trump that sees the sovereignty of West Asian nations taking a back seat if they do not comply with America’s vision of the region.  

We can expect that Trump will eventually comply in one way or another with the demands brought forward, as policymakers want to ensure that the US stays on the throne it commandeered following the collapse of the USSR by making Trump a Machiavellian prince.