Trump Has Busy Day in Vortex of Middle East Relations<br />"We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote." The statement capped a day during which Mr. Trump thrust himself into the messy politics of Persian Gulf states, trying to also play peacemaker in a bitter dispute between Qatar and other Sunni Muslim neighbors<br />that threatens to splinter a Middle Eastern alliance fighting the Islamic State.<br />But there appears to be no chance, administration officials say,<br />that the Trump administration will try to find common cause with Tehran on fighting the Islamic State.<br />So when the White House woke on Wednesday to images of a possible Islamic State attack on Tehran, it prompted<br />a sharp quandary: How does President Trump condemn the violence without seeming to embrace the victims?<br />Analysts said Mr. Trump’s public support for Saudi Arabia emboldened the kingdom and sent a chill through other Gulf states, including Oman and Kuwait,<br />that fear that any country that defies the Saudis or the United Arab Emirates could face ostracism as Qatar has.<br />By DAVID E. SANGER, MARK LANDLER and ERIC SCHMITTJUNE 7, 2017<br />WASHINGTON — Rarely has the Trump administration spoken of Iran other than to condemn<br />it as the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism and an aspiring nuclear weapons state.
