Saudi Arabia has wanted a war with Iran for years, they just don’t want to be the ones to fight it. The Israelis have wanted a war with Iran for years, they just don’t want to be the ones to fight it. What they want instead is a situation so rare that it has probably happened less than a handful of times in human history: a proxy war, but with the proxy being the largest, most powerful government on the planet. Proxy wars usually consist of the reverse: a powerful government funds and directs smaller bands of rebels to attack their enemies. Our situation would be unique, and uniquely pathetic. Our military doesn’t exist to fight another nation’s conflicts. Saudi Arabia is a totalitarian, fundamentalist hellhole. One that it currently butchers the civilians of neighboring Yemen.
Both the Saudis and the Israelis want the United States to fight this war. Our government would be roped into expending American lives and American dollars at their behest in an open-ended conflict. Saudi Arabia, nor its oil, is worth neither.
