French newspaper Le Monde has sharply criticized US President Donald Trump’s Middle East record, describing it as a succession of failures marked by incompetence and recklessness.
In an analysis published Monday night, the newspaper said: “In less than two years, the White House occupant has amassed a record of failures.”
It argued the US-Israeli war on Iran had exposed the limits of American military power, with the conflict’s most tangible outcome being the blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“Washington initially displayed the limitations of the world’s leading military. It then resigned itself to an agreement with Iran, the ambiguous wording of which was exploited by the Iranian regime to claim unprecedented control of the strait,” the article read.
It added that the United States subsequently threatened to resume fighting before backing down, apparently under pressure from Gulf Arab states facing Iranian retaliation and amid “alarming state of certain munitions stockpiles,” which Washington denies.
The episode, Le Monde argued, turned an American “show of force” into an “illustration of incapacity,” while contributing to a defensive pact between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye that could be interpreted as a challenge to Washington’s traditional role as the Gulf’s security guarantor.
The paper also identified the Palestinian issue as another major impasse for Trump. It said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to a proposed arrangement involving Hamas’s disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal from large parts of Gaza has effectively stalled the reconstruction plan Trump unveiled in October 2025.
According to Le Monde, Washington’s inability to pressure ‘Israel’ is particularly striking given Israeli dependence on US military support and Washington’s continued protection of the Zionist entity at the United Nations.
The newspaper further criticized the Trump administration’s belated response to violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, noting that US Ambassador to ‘Israel’ Mike Huckabee has recently described extremist settlers as “terrorists.”
Le Monde recalled that Trump, after returning to the White House, swiftly revoked sanctions imposed by his predecessor Joe Biden on violent settlers, calling the move “emblematic of the administration’s consistent pattern of error in the Middle East.”
Source: Al-Manar English Website