Shafaq News – Washington

The administration of US President Donald Trump has unveiled its 2025 National Security Strategy, outlining the foreign-policy and defense priorities that will guide Washington in the coming years.

Branded under the slogan “America First,” the document not only declares an end to the era of military interventions and regime-change campaigns, but also introduces an entirely new framework for the Middle East—shifting it from a source of crises to an investment partner, while sidelining one of Washington’s most consequential files of the past two decades: Iraq.

Issued by each incoming administration to direct the work of multiple federal agencies, the strategy states that Trump aims to restore American supremacy in the Western Hemisphere and place the region at the top of US foreign-policy priorities.

The 29-page document underscores that Trump’s policy is driven above all by what serves America. It identifies border security—including ending mass migration—protection of the US industrial base, and technological superiority as core pillars of national security.

For the Middle East, the strategy sets a clear objective: preventing any hostile power from controlling the region and its resources, while firmly avoiding the endless wars that drained the United States in the past.

Syria: A Four-Party Equation Including Israel

The strategy bluntly describes Syria as a continuing potential problem, and proposes a stability formula built on four actors: the United States, Arab partners, Turkiye, and Israel.

Israel has conducted intermittent strikes inside Syria, and Washington has urged Tel Aviv to halt these operations while praising the new leadership in Damascus.

The document also signals a clear downgrading of the Middle East’s historical importance to the United States—particularly its oil—in light of expanding domestic energy production. Instead of withdrawing, Washington is redefining the region as both a source and destination for international investment.

The strategy lists new areas of cooperation beyond oil and gas, including nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, and defense technologies. It also highlights plans for partnerships with regional states to open markets in Africa and secure global supply chains.

Gulf Region: The End of US “hectoring”

One section likely to resonate in Gulf capitals is the administration’s formal acknowledgment of the failure of Washington’s long-standing “hectoring” approach—its attempts to pressure Gulf monarchies to abandon their governing traditions.

The new approach embraces a principle of accepting the region and its leaders as they are, encouraging reforms only when they emerge organically from within. The shift effectively ends years of diplomatic tension centered on human-rights and liberal-democracy debates.

For Shafaq News,Mostafa Hashem, Washington D.C.