The Persian Gulf monarchies can no longer afford to indefinitely delegate their security to Washington

The paradigm now driving the Gulf monarchies does not reject Washington. It redefines it. From sole protector, it becomes a supplier among others; useful for armaments, influential because of its conditions, and dangerous because of its unilateralism. This redefinition is the silent revolution underway.

This article offers a forward-looking perspective on the collapse of American hegemony and the security transformation in the Middle East. It first demonstrates the technical failure of the American umbrella (I), which precipitates the rise of Tehran as the central pivot of a new post-Washington security architecture (II), before subsequently examining the contours of a new paradigm dictated by absolute multilateralism and the pragmatic realism of the Gulf monarchies (III).

I. The technical failure of the American umbrella

History will remember that the United States’ disproportionate aggression accelerated its own expulsion from the Middle Eastern theater. By multiplying suffocating unilateral sanctions, belligerent declarations, and theatrical naval deployments in the Strait of Hormuz, Washington thought it could restore a severely eroded deterrent capability. The exact opposite occurred. Iran’s response, asymmetrical, highly technological, and relentless, paralyzed not only American decision-making centers but also those of Israel. Patriot air defense systems, sold at exorbitant prices to Gulf capitals for decades, proved dramatically ineffective against the swarms of saturation drones and next-generation hypersonic missiles developed by the Iranian military industry. This stark technical realization triggered a genuine psychological and doctrinal earthquake among Arab decision-makers. The era of impunity ended, and clear thinking began.

American protection has become, through successive crises, a toxic liability for the region. It no longer ensures collective security; it attracts........

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