There is no indication that the United States and Saudi Arabia have any intention to do anything other than wait out the Khashoggi affair.
Mattis this morning at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain embraced the status quo in the Middle East: the U.S.-Saudi marriage is "ironclad"; yes, the war in Yemen and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi are regrettable, but Iran is still the region's big bogeyman.
The loathsome Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir appeared at the same conference and rejected Turkey's calls for the extradition of suspects in Khashoggi's murder, calling the global reaction to butchering the dissident in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, "hysterical."
Continuing to stall seems to me a poor strategy. Serious movement on Syria is afoot. Putin, Erdogan, Merkel and Macron are meeting in Istanbul to discuss Idlib. Decisions are being made absent the "indispensable nation."
As Rouhani says, the U.S. is isolated. Besides the Gulf monarchies, Israel and a UK led by a foundering Conservative Party, the United States under Trump has no strong allies.
The U.S. can't bomb its way out of this one.
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