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Political Commentator
world leaders are Kicking Donald Trump out finally for good. World leaders are saying stay the hell away from future discussions regarding regional security in the Middle East. Go and negotiate your surrender document with Iran, Donald Rubio, Vance and stay the hell away from what will be happening in the future of the Middle East. The Saudi Arabia refusing to meet with Marco Rubio when Rubio has taken this trip to the Middle east in order to try to beg the Middle east countries like the uae, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and others to keep American military bases in the region. MBS the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia didn't even want to be photographed or or meet with Marco Rubio, which is notable because Saudi Arabia is usually the first destination when Rubio or Donald Trump heads to the Middle east instead. What's taking place? Well, Qatar has announced that there will be reconciliation discussions with Iran that will be taking place soon. Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council in order to mend relationships and develop a new security archetype architecture for the region since the United States security umbrella has utterly failed. You have key business leaders and political leaders even in the UAE saying we were betrayed by the Trump regime. As noted, MbS and the Saudi Arabia officials don't even want to meet with the United States. The Trump regime is sending a very panicked Marco Rubio to the region to try to beg, as I noted, to keep American military bases and it is not going well. Rubio continues to misrepresent the terms that are within the Memorandum of Understanding. Iran realizes exactly what Rubio is trying to do. Rubio is trying to undermine a meeting that is now set to take place between the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Iran. And Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson has called out the United States yet again for their antics. And, and earlier yesterday, Foreign Minister Aragchi of Iran spoke with his counterpart, the Foreign Minister Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. Let's go through with the receipts what's happening here, because I know a lot of discussion is around the United States and Iran technical talks arising out of the Memorandum of Understanding. While the Middle east countries recognize that as a document of surrender. But by the United States, they also realize, and they've clinically diagnosed Donald Trump essentially as a psychopath. So they know that the MoU is very fragile. They know that Donald Trump never keeps to a contract and never keeps his word. So these Middle east countries are building a new security architecture designed to fully checkmate and kick out the United States. So here's what we learned in the past 24 hours, but we've been talking about this development now for quite some time. So Saudi Arabia is preparing to hold a reconciliation summit, as Ariel Al Saran points out, between Iran and Gulf Arab states in the wake of Iranian attacks on its neighbors, according to afp, citing a diplomat familiar with the preparations. According to this source, the summit is aimed at restoring relations between Gulf states, Iran and neighboring countries as well. This would be separate from what the United States is negotiating with Iran. Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Alderman Al Thani says that the Gulf states and Iran are specifically negotiating a new regional security framework, one that relies less on Washington and more on direct regional cooperation. And again, this would be moving away from the Abraham Accords, which was the US Backed effort to get Gulf countries allied with Israel under the US Security umbrella, with US And Israel being a dominant force in the region. And it moves away from that and allocates power more with the Arab nations and now with Iran. As Aymin Jamil explains, for decades, Gulf security rested on the US Umbrella. But after the drone attacks, shipping disruptions and repeated crises, regional powers are looking for their own arrangements without the United States. The Gulf is moving towards a multipolar security order that includes Iran. And they're looking at what's happening right now. Even with these purported ceasefire discussions regarding Israel and Lebanon, where Israel continues to say, we are not leaving Lebanon, we consider these territories in southern Lebanon to be security zones or pilot zones. And from the reporting out of the ceasefire discussions, there was not only no progress made in the Israel and Lebanon discussions, but apparently Netanyahu's regime demanded more territory inside Lebanon, referring to this not as security Zones, but we need in addition, pilot zones is how Israel is referring to it. As in addition, you had a number of developments as well. As Babak Vad explains, in my view, the emerging regional order will increasingly revolve around strategic mutual defense arrangements between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that Tehran appears to have viewed with interest, plus other members of the Islamabad Quartet, Egypt, Turkey, with Qatar, Oman and these other Gulf Cooperation Council states. And that's why Rubio was going to the UAE to try to undermine what was going on there and the progress being made there. Now, here in the United States, you had Treasury Secretary Scott Besant referring to the spokesperson from Iran and the messaging coming out of Iran. Uh, Bessant goes. Remember how people talked about Baghdad, Bob? Well, now we have Tehran, Tim, and they're out there just making up lies about what the real deal is between the United States and Iran. And this is why the United States has zero credibility in the region and in the world right now, because we all can actually read what's in the memorandum of understanding. Treasury Secretary Besant is Baghdad Besant. Donald Trump is way more foolish than Baghdad, Bob. This is what the United States has become. Here's what Besant had to say. Let's play this clip.
Political Analyst
So when you hear the Iranians, maybe it's the IRGC with this public relations saying the IAEA inspectors are not to going coming. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. All of these things day to day get picked up. Just what amazes me. It's the same people, a lot of the hawks in the US who say you can't believe anything the Iranians say unless they say it about the negotiations. Right. Like believe them for the negotiations. Remember Baghdad, Bob? Sure. From Iraq. It's kind of Tehran, Tim.
Monday.com Narrator
Right.
Political Analyst
Like it's just a lot of big talk and let's just see how this cooks out. But I'm optimistic.
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Political Commentator
Now, as I noted, you had Marco Rubio scrambling to the Middle east where the Saudis didn't even want to meet with him. He went to UAE and Kuwait and Rubio was asked yesterday, so what do you say about the America security umbrella collapsing? And Rubio's like, well, we've got our bases there. What are you talking about? We've got our, we've got our weapons there. That's the whole point. Rubio, these countries don't want you there anymore. Here, play this clip.
Marco Rubio
Existing relationships in this country that go back many, many decades. We have troop presence in these countries. We have assets in these countries. The security insurances lie in the fact that these. We didn't have to talk about that because they know it's true. They know we've been there with them and they've been in there with us. We have people there. We have people on the ground constantly working with them. We have air defenses embedded with them. We have aircraft in these countries. So I think that I didn't sense any doubts about our security assurances because they're real. They're not promises. They're actually.
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But so what about the conventional capabilities that Iran is going to be able to attain? Could you make any assurances that about
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Marco Rubio
Well, look, we're going to be completely aligned with our partners in the Gulf. That's why we're meeting with all of them tomorrow. That's why I've taken these trips now. And it's the reason why I'm here. Apart from thanking them for the incredible support they gave us throughout this process, we want them to know and we want to reiterate and begin to talk to them and engage them on conversations about every decision that's made with regards to this negotiation we're not going to do anything that undermines the security of our allies, our long standing allies in the region. So I think that that's something that our partners believe when we say because we're doing it, we're going to continue to do it and we're doing it with them.
Political Commentator
Now then, in contravention and contradiction of what's in the mou, Rubio says we will never allow Iran to have tolls regarding the Strait of Hormuz. Nobody will accept that. Okay, well look, in the MoU, the MoU just says no tolls for 60 days. We could all read the MoU. Here's what Rubio says.
Marco Rubio
Let's play it against any mechanism that charges money to use an international waterway. It's that simple. The President's already said that's not going to happen. When we mean open the straits, we mean open the straits free in international waterways. So we'll express that tomorrow. I am certain that not only will every country in the Gulf region be supportive, probably with the exception of Iran, but all the GCC members will be supportive, but the whole world will be supportive. I know of no country on the planet that supports tolling or a fee for the use of the straits. That's just not, that's not going to happen. The President of the Abundantly Clear.
Political Commentator
And then Rubio also in his meeting with the press after meeting with the UAE and Kuwait, Rubio almost acts like there's no deal. It's like, well, you know, we're working through these terms and you know, we're going to have to, you know, ensure that if Iran doesn't do the deal with us, we're going to have a lot of options at our disposal. What are you talking about, Rubio? There's an MOU that we can all read. Those terms now have to be implemented in a long form agreement. But this is why Rubio has, and the Trump regime has zero credibility and why these Middle east countries are developing a security architecture without the United States. Let's play this clip of Rubio has
Marco Rubio
continued to threaten to bomb, straight bomb Iran, excuse me, if it doesn't comply with some of its requirements in the negotiations. Is that sort of in any way shape or form complicating these negotiations? Mr. No. What the President has stated is very clear. We expect them to keep their if they want to get into a negotiation, we'll do a negotiation. If they make commitments at the negotiation, they need to keep them. If they don't keep them, the President has multiple options at his disposal that includes sanctions, it includes other things. So I think the President has been clear. If we're going to get a deal, it has to be a real deal and it has to be a good deal. If Iran wants to make a good and real deal, the United States is open to that. If they're not, then of course the President has options. We want this to work out. We hope it works out. But if it doesn't, the President knows what his options are, and I'm not, you know, that's all I'll say about it right now.
Political Commentator
The Washington Post reports the following. Rocked by the Iran war, the UAE sours on Trump. We got played across the Persian Gulf region. Trump was once viewed as a pro business ally, but his decision to wage war in Iran and his erratic conduct have tarnished his image. And as I've said, in the Middle east, they've clinically diagnosed Donald Trump as psychotic, not hyperbolic, like actually, he's a psychotic human. We all know this. We didn't need a clinical diagnosis. I mean, I'm giving you my opinion, of course, but he's not a rational actor. Duh. This article goes on to talk about how lots of business leaders in the UAE basically say, you know, he constantly changes position. I had high hopes we got played. He claimed to be a no war president. We believed him. We warned him, don't poke the bear, don't go to war with Iran. Instead, he listened to Netanyahu over us, and now he's destroyed business and he's destroyed the region. He escalated the war and then he seems to just walk away. He caused all these problems and then he just seems to say, yeah, we don't care about you. And no one has any view that Donald Trump can be trusted in the UAE anymore. I mean, you look at what Netanyahu has been saying just over the past 24 hours. They told us, don't enter Syria. They said it wasn't wise. They said it wasn't justified. We went in with full force, just as we did in Lebanon. I told Donald Trump, we're going into Iran. I didn't even have to ask. And then, guess what? We went into Iran and Donald Trump followed me. You have Foreign Minister. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson of Iran issued the following statement after Rubio's made all of these statements that contradict the mou. The US Ruling establishment has never shown any sincerity in its behavior toward the Iranian nation Iran. While having ample reason for this suspicion, enter the diplomatic process in good faith and sign the MoU to end the imposed war. Iranians know that the enemy's animosity will not end with the signing of a single agreement, and they will take every step with vigilance. Bearing in mind the experience of the past five decades, especially the developments of the last year and a half, the contradictory statements by by U.S. officials regarding the Memorandum of Understanding to end the imposed war will do nothing to reduce the accumulated distrust of Iranians and will merely serve as a reminder of past breaches of faith. The US Ruling establishment must bear in mind that the principle of commitment for commitment requires the fulfillment of reciprocal obligations and the avoidance of interpretations that are entirely at odds with the explicit wording of the Memorandum of Understanding text. So while you have that happening, as I noted, Foreign Minister Iraq, she's been speaking with the counterpart in Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Faran Al Saad, who says Israel's military only strategy is only going to cripple its own interests. And this is why we need to build a new regional framework. Here's what he says. Let's play this this clip.
Prince Faisal bin Faran Al Saad
The management of the strait was working fine before the conflict. There were no issues. Ships were navigating freely. You know, there was no safety issue. There was no environmental issue. There were, there were no issues. So why should we now, as a result of a conflict, accept some novel arrangement that is going to be imposed on it that, you know, that to me doesn't make sense. So I think, think we need to go back to the way it was and that worked fine and that, you know, that that should be the end of it.
Political Commentator
Well, there you have it folks. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers and thanks for watching everybody. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our substack@midasplus.com you'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available@midasplus.com.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Episode: "World Leaders Block Trump from Peace Talks"
Date: June 25, 2026
In this episode, the Meiselas brothers (Ben, Brett, and Jordy) dive deep into the seismic shifts happening in the Middle East as world and regional leaders actively shut out Donald Trump and his allies from ongoing peace and security talks. The conversation unpacks how the US’s credibility has collapsed under Trump’s erratic leadership and chronic unreliability, pushing Gulf states toward independence from American security guarantees and encouraging new regional alliances that minimize U.S. influence.
Memorable Quote:
“World leaders are saying stay the hell away from future discussions regarding regional security in the Middle East.” (Political Commentator, 03:16)
Notable Explanation:
“The Gulf is moving towards a multipolar security order that includes Iran…regional powers are looking for their own arrangements without the United States.” (Political Commentator, ~06:30)
Quote:
“It’s the same people, a lot of the hawks in the US who say you can’t believe anything the Iranians say, unless they say it about the negotiations. Right. Like, believe them for the negotiations. Remember Baghdad, Bob? Sure. It’s kind of Tehran, Tim.” (Political Analyst, 11:00)
“We have troop presence in these countries…We didn’t have to talk about that because they know it’s true. We have people there.” (Marco Rubio, 13:22)
Quote:
“If Iran wants to make a good and real deal, the United States is open to that. If not, the President knows what his options are.” (Marco Rubio, 16:12)
Quote:
“In the Middle east, they’ve clinically diagnosed Donald Trump as psychotic…he’s not a rational actor. Duh.” (Political Commentator, 17:01)
Quote:
“So why should we now, as a result of a conflict, accept some novel arrangement that is going to be imposed on it?...We need to go back to the way it was and that worked fine...” (Prince Faisal bin Faran Al Saad, 20:20)
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote/Highlight | |-----------|-------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:16 | Political Commentator | “World leaders are saying stay the hell away from future discussions regarding regional security in the Middle East.” | | 10:50 | Political Analyst | “It’s kind of Tehran, Tim.” | | 13:22 | Marco Rubio | “We have troop presence in these countries…We have people on the ground.” | | 16:12 | Marco Rubio | “The President has multiple options at his disposal that includes sanctions, it includes other things.” | | 17:01 | Political Commentator | “In the Middle East, they’ve clinically diagnosed Donald Trump as psychotic…” | | 20:20 | Prince Faisal bin Faran Al Saad | “Why should we now, as a result of a conflict, accept some novel arrangement…?” |
The MeidasTouch brothers maintain their signature blend of sharp political analysis, sardonic commentary, and big-picture context, emphasizing the consequences of U.S. policy chaos and Trump’s damaged legacy abroad. Their conversation underscores a historic pivot in Middle East diplomacy: major actors are choosing to build security frameworks that deliberately minimize U.S. involvement, making the region more independent and multipolar.
The resounding message: U.S. credibility in the Middle East is at a historic low due to Trump’s leadership, regional actors are tired of the drama, and the world stage is quietly but decisively moving on.