July 30, 2026
Gulf States Distance Themselves from Trump as Iran Tensions Escalate
“Not only are they hardening their stance against Iran, but they also seem to be distancing themselves somewhat from the United States." Despite Saudi Arabia joining the strikes on Iran, it “doesn’t want to go in with both feet” because it still “has to live with Iran”, says former US deputy assistant secretary of defence for Europe and NATO, Jim Townsend.
Watch the full interview on Times News.
More from CNAS
-
Aug 07, ’26 Washington Roundtable
Podcast
On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security joins Defense & Aerospa...
By Jim Townsend
-
Ukraine's Command Shake-Up: Fedorov Out, Drapatyi In
Podcast
On July 15th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed now–former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the architects of Ukraine’s technological transformation o...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
Jul 24, ’26 Washington Roundtable
Podcast
On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security joins Defense & Aerospa...
By Jim Townsend
-
Hibernating Bear
Reports
Executive Summary Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there have been several crises—in Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Venezuela, and Iran—where Russia did not intervene ...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Peter Schroeder & Kate Johnston
