The Middle East has been called Byzantine, a snake pit and a political cesspit. It is a land where there are said to be no national interests, only interests. Where today’s enemy is tomorrow’s bedfellow and vice versa.

The region’s many leaders have changed horses so many times that the horses are dizzy.

All the above is especially true today when the region’s faraway overlord—the President of the United States—is likely to change his mind at the drop of a bitcoin, especially if the coin drops into his account.

This week Donald Trump has been touring the region and it has changed. The Arabs and the Turks are very happy with America. The Iranians may be coming around. The Israelis are—surprise, surprise—unhappy with the mercurial president.

One of the reasons that the Turks and Arabs are pleased is that the US is lifting sanctions on Syria. This became a certainty when Trump met with Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa and pronounced: “I think he has got potential.” Not so many months ago the US had a $10 million dead or alive bounty on his head.

Israel is totally opposed to lifting sanctions against Syria. They are terrified that Syria—their traditional enemy– is now governed by a former Al Qaeeda operative and have despatched special units to undermine al-Sharaa and “Balkanise” Syria.

It should also be noted that when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week announced the end of hostilities between Ankara and the Kurds, standing alongside him was the new Syrian foreign minister.

Trump is all about business and one of the reasons that he loves visiting Saudi Arabia is that they have billions of petro-dollars to spend on American weaponry. This visit was no exception. Trump was able to announce an initial deal for $142 billion which he said could grow to $1 trillion.

Again, Israel was upset. The trip to Saudi Arabia and any big arms deals was supposed to coincide with the establishment of Saudi diplomatic relations with Israel. There was no way, however, that Saudi Arabia could recognise Israel after it broke the ceasefire and launched an even more vicious attack on Gaza and Trump needed a big cash deal for the folks back home to justify his mad economic policies.

Ten years ago the Gulf States were privately urging the United States to attack Iran and wipe out its nuclear facilities before a nuclear bomb was built. This time they pressed him to find a political solution.

There is still an underlying centuries-old enmity between the Arabs and the Persians, but the Gulf states have been reconsidering past position in the light of Israel’s increasing threats against Iran. They concluded that they would be the big loser in any war between the US and Iran or the US and Israel against Iran. Shipping in the Gulf would stop and the fighting would inevitably spread into their own territories.

Thus Trump has been encouraged to do a deal with Iran, and in Qatar the president announced that he and the Mullahs were close to an agreement. Apparently, it would involve Iran in scrapping any nuclear weapons programme in return for the West lifting sanctions. This could only have infuriated Netanyahu who regards Iran as Israel’s public enemy number one. He will almost certainly do everything possible to sabotage any US-Iranian talks.

There are several other signs that the Trump-Netanyahu bromance of Trump’s first term is cooling. This week, for instance, the Trump Administration circumvented the Israelis to talk directly with Hamas to organise the release of Eden Alexander, the last American hostage in Gaza.

US diplomats also went behind Israeli backs to talk directly to the Houthis and organised a deal whereby American ships could sail safely pass the mouth of the Red Sea on their way to the Suez Canal. The Houthis, however, could continue to attack Israeli ships.

Much of the reason for the current cooling in US-Israeli relationship is that Netanyahu has embarrassed the American president. Trump’s Middle East negotiator Steve Witfkoff was the driving force behind the January three-stage Gaza ceasefire. Trump went out of his way to claim credit for the ceasefire and Netanyahu’s breach and even more vicious attacks have made Trump look foolish for trusting him. Trump does not like to look foolish.

* Tom Arms is foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and author of “The Encyclopaedia of the Cold War” and “America Made in Britain".