The US is sending reinforcements to Saudi Arabia and UAE to protect what it believes to be its own assets, and put additional pressure on Iran, increasing the risk of a sudden and devastating regional war, analysts told RT.

​The Persian Gulf is a powder keg, and any aggressive action by the Saudis or any other regional player “could trigger some sort of conflict that draws the US in” – but Americans are unlikely to fall in line with yet another war, especially to defend such a repugnant ally, Colin Cavell, associate professor of political science at Bluefield State College, told RT.

Washington is putting itself in a “very tenuous situation” and even though it will likely try to sell potential war with the usual line that they’re “fighting for freedom and democracy,” Cavell warned “there’s a pretty widespread feeling among US troops that that’s not the case.”

The US is trying to protect what it considers to be their oil, their strategic lifeline.

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The embarrassing attack that crippled Saudi oil production has once again proved that Riyadh is extremely dependent on the US militarily, be it arms supplies, training or operational support, Richard Becker of the US anti-war and social justice ANSWER coalition told RT.

“The Saudi military has bought hundreds of billions of dollars in weaponry from US manufacturers,” Becker explained. “It is clear that the Saudi military is not a strong military and it very much needs the US there.”

That’s an essential part of the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia.

With Iran, which is realistically no match to the US militarily, already surrounded by dozens of bases and other assets, including submarines and aircraft carriers, another handful of troops makes little difference, but nevertheless escalates the crisis, Becker believes.

That’s the real provocation, they are not there to defend the US from Iran… They are a form of pressure and control over Iran.

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And the argument that sending American troops to Saudi Arabia will somehow help bring Iran to the negotiating table, as Defense Secretary Mark Esper claimed was one of the aims of the deployment announced on Friday, is “almost laughable,” Becker says.

What kind of enticement is there to enter negotiations if the other party has [unilaterally] broken what was in fact a treaty among six countries and Iran

“The negotiating table is with the JCPOA plus five…for Iran to agree to some separate negotiation based upon intimidation and bullying by the US is illogical,” Cavell added.

Trump can huff and he can puff but he’s not going to blow the Iranian house down.

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