Trump orders a military shift to stimulate Arab-Israeli cooperation against Iran

US officials said on Thursday that President Trump has ordered the expansion of the main US military leadership in the Middle East to include Israel, in a last-minute reorganization of the US defense architecture that longtime pro-Israel groups have called for to encourage cooperation against Iran.

This step means that the US Central Command will oversee US military policy that includes Israel and the Arab countries, in a departure from decades of the US military command structure that was put in place due to the dispute between Israel and some of the Pentagon’s Arab allies.

This is the latest in A series of Trump administration policy moves To shape the national security agenda, President-elect Joe Biden will inherit. The change was recently made by Mr. Trump but has yet to be announced. A Biden transition official declined to comment on the move.

Israel has long been assigned US military responsibility to its European leadership. This arrangement enabled American generals in the Middle East to interact with the Arab states without having a close association with Israel, which was seen at the time as an adversary in the Arab world.

distance Abraham ropes Leading to the normalization of Israel’s relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, pro-Israel groups have intensified their efforts to hold Central Command responsible for military operations and plan to engage Israel to foster greater cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors.