Trump looks to boost weapons output, protect oil shipping as MidEast war expands

(Originally published March 4 in “What in the World“) The UAE may join Israel and the U.S. in attacking Iran.

After begin hit by Iranian missiles and drones, the Arab nation is mulling whether retaliation against Tehran by attacking its missile launch sites, Axios reported, citing two unnamed sources. Iranian strikes in the UAE include a drone that hit the parking lot of the U.S. consulate there.

An Iranian missile, meanwhile, hit the biggest U.S. base in the Middle East, Al Udeid in Qatar. The U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in Iran continued Tuesday for a fourth day, while Israel broadened its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon by sending troops across the border. And with the global oil trade effectively cut as shipping companies avoid the Gulf for fear of attack, Trump said he may dispatch the U.S. Navy to escort oil tankers safely through the Strait of Hormuz.

Any hope of a quick, Venezuelan-style “solution” to the war—wherein a more moderate member of the regime takes over from slain leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—has apparently been buried under the rubble of U.S. airstrikes. Literally. “Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said Tuesday. That leaves Ali Khamanei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the front-runner to succeed him, which analysts said would represent the rise of an even more hard-line regime.

While Trump and Israel have made destroying Iran’s missiles, launchers and production sites a priority of the war, Iran’s drones are emerging as perhaps the biggest threat. Iran has so far launched at least 2,000 attack drones since being attacked Saturday, including two that on Tuesday hit the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh.

Faced with rapidly depleting stockpiles of anti-missile missiles to defend against incoming Iranian projectiles, Trump is scheduled to meet executives from big U.S. weapons makers Friday to discuss accelerating production as Congress and the White House discuss additional defense spending. While calling for an increase of as much as 50% in U.S. weapons spending, Trump has also lashed out at defense contractors for failing to boost production, even threatening to block them from paying dividends or buying back their companies’ shares if they don’t invest more in increasing arms output.