Analysis: U.S. Middle East "task contraction" may lead to a decline in its global reputation

Golden Finance reported on April 4 that Chris Doyle, director of the Arab-British Understanding Committee (CAABU), said that Iran’s first downing of a U.S. military aircraft in this war is of great significance for Iran’s reputation. “This shows that it is taking on the world’s superpower, the United States, which is the dominant military power, and that—at least on both the symmetric and asymmetric levels—it is competing with it.” He said that if you look back five or six weeks, this war should have ended within a single day. “At the time, Trump told allies, ‘I don’t need your help,’ but now it is far from that; he appears to be very passive. There seems to be chaos inside the White House, and the Pentagon is dismissing generals—this really makes it feel as though the U.S. leadership is not in control of the situation.”

Doyle believes: “When the United States becomes involved in the Middle East, people usually worry about ‘mission creep,’ meaning the objectives keep expanding. But now it is ‘mission shrinkage.’ At the beginning, the change of regime was seen as absolutely necessary, which is why strikes were carried out against Iran’s leadership; but now Trump and others are saying, ‘We are not doing this for regime change.’ And Iran seems to have a stronger grip on its own goals: it can escalate the situation according to its own wishes and, when needed, expand the conflict.” He concluded: “If the United States can’t control these issues, its credibility on the global stage will decline.”