Tom Barrack on a Middle East revival plan

von Jolyon: Thomas J. Barrack, Jr.

Tom Barrack's read on the region is that it has never actually aligned, and that's the thing worth sitting with. In our conversation the U.S. Ambassador sketched what a revival could look like in practice: a ceasefire with Iran, frozen assets handed back when calm periods hold, sanctions relief tied to nonproliferation thresholds, a Qatar fund worth $350 billion that Iran would co-sponsor, and a route returning to the Abraham Accords. His argument is that calming things down is what makes an Israel and Arab world alliance make sense. He isn't calling it finished, just laying out the mechanics of a possible renaissance.