Why Saudi Just Abandoned Its Core Oil Rule

Few could argue with U.S. President Donald Trump’s key objective in launching ‘Operation Epic Fury’ against Iran on 28 February, to prevent Iran from ever being able to develop a nuclear weapon. All members of his Cabinet fully backed this aim at the time, as they did the other three: to effect regime change, to critically degrade Iran’s ballistic missile capability, and to neutralise the ability of its proxies, especially Hamas and Hezbollah, to cause mayhem across the Middle East and the world. The degree to which these…