US President Donald Trump’s course correction of his foreign policy team is shifting into overdrive with Iran hawks and staunchly pro-Israel officials axed, including one who drew the ire of “America First” Trump allies.
The officials being dismissed are all those with previous track records opposing what are shaping up to be Trump’s most significant Middle East endeavours: swiftly lifting sanctions on Syria and negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran.
The reshuffle comes after Trump’s landmark visit to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar last month. In a speech in Riyadh, Trump tore into “interventionists” and American “nation builders”.
Underscoring just how rapid the turnaround has been, the Middle East advisor at the White House National Security Council (NSC) who was photographed taking notes while Trump spoke to the leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia in May was one of the officials fired.
Eric Trager was notified late last month that he would be removed from his position, one former US official and one source with knowledge of the matter confirmed to Middle East Eye. His firing has been reported by several Israeli news sites.
The latter source said Trager was still working on the NSC for now.
Trager is an Iran hawk. He also wrote a book criticising the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar. Unlike previous Middle East directors at the NSC, his influence in the White House was limited.
He was dismissed as part of a wider Trump shakeup at the NSC, which The New York Times reported will see the organisation’s headcount cut in half.
Another notable firing was Merav Ceren, the NSC director for Israel and Iran, in late May.
Ceren’s biography at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank states that she worked at the Israeli Ministry of Defence, where she participated in negotiations in the occupied West Bank between Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, known as Cogat, and Palestinian Authority officials.
Her appointment, first reported by Drop Site News in April, created a firestorm among America First media personalities.
“Neo-con Mike Waltz has now hired basically a dual citizen and former IDF official to work under him,” Conservative podcaster Clayton Morris, a former Fox News anchor, said in April, referring to Ceren.
Some of Trump’s most vocal defenders in the media, who exercise unprecedented influence in communicating his worldview, are media figures like Tucker Carlson and former advisor Steve Bannon. Morris is a friend of Carlson.
Broad sweep
The latest firings come after Trump brushed away his former national security advisor, Mike Waltz, by nominating him to be ambassador to the United Nations.
Waltz was reportedly sidelined for consulting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on preemptively attacking Iran.
Trump’s administration was divided between traditional Republican hawks and “America First” isolationists like White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The latest firing underscores the “America First” bent of Trump’s foreign policy team.
The NSC isn’t the only place Trump is cleaning house.
On Sunday, Israel’s Channel 14 reported that Morgan Ortagus, the deputy to US envoy Steve Witkoff and the official overseeing the Trump administration’s Lebanon portfolio, will be leaving her position.
One source briefed on her departure told MEE that Ortagus had irritated Witkoff, her de facto boss.
Trump looking for ‘Iran doves’
Overall, Trump’s sweeping dismissals reflect how he is upending the traditional ways Republican presidents approached the Middle East.
It’s unclear how much Trump himself cared about these specific positions or the officials who filled them. He has been relying on close friends like Witkoff to negotiate with Iran and, more recently, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, to manage Syria.
Some speculate that the shakeup is a natural outcome of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking over as temporary national security advisor after Waltz’s departure. Both Trager and Ceren were part of Waltz’s team.
But the axed officials are all united by a common thread.
They are traditional hawks who have supported Israel’s offensives in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. All of the officials were critics of compromising with Iran to reach a nuclear deal.
“Trump’s foreign policy team is undergoing a course correction in keeping with his own pivot,” Marwa Maziad, a professor of Israeli politics at the University of Maryland, told MEE.
“In March, Trump allowed Netanyahu to relaunch his offensive on Gaza. Trump was not in the driver’s seat,” Maziad said.
The pivotal change for his administration came in mid-May when he visited the Gulf, bypassing Israel to seal economic deals with oil-rich monarchs. Trump struck a unilateral ceasefire with the Houthis even as they continue to attack Israel, and made a historic announcement to lift all sanctions on Syria.
But the main theatre of diplomacy is the Iranian nuclear deal.
“Whether the staff reshuffling is related to these officials’ views on Israel or not is besides the point. The tensions between Trump and Netanyahu over a potential strike on Iran are real. Trump is trying to take the wheel back from Netanyahu,” Maziad said.
On Monday, Axios reported that the Trump administration offered a proposal to Iran for a nuclear deal that allows them to enrich a low level of uranium. Trump later undercut the story on Monday, saying he would not allow enrichment at any level.
But one source briefed on the firings told MEE that they appeared in keeping with a White House that is looking for officials to follow Trump’s desire for a deal.
“They are looking for Iran doves and people aligned to Vance,” the source said, referring to US Vice President JD Vance, who has emerged as the most prominent opponent of US military intervention in the Middle East.
Source: Middle East Eye
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