Steven A. Cook is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. His latest book is The End of Ambition: America’s Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East.
Reporters raise their hands in the foreground as Donald Trump gestures with his arms wide behind a podium. On the left, Benjamin Netanyahu looks sideways at Trump from behind a podium.
Palestinians riding on a cart are refected on a mirror in the shape of the map of Palestine in Rafah, on the southern Gaza Strip on February 7, 2024 amid ongoing battles between Israel and the militant Hamas group.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, during a ceremony marking the 96th anniversary of Victory Day, commemorating a decisive battle in the Turkish War of Independence, in Ankara, on August 30, 2018.
US President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrive for the family photo during the Jeddah Security and Development Summit (GCC+3) at a hotel in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on July 16, 2022.