“The US went to war in Iran because Iran made itself a Chinese weapon,” policy analyst Zineb Riboua told me during our interview.

According to her, the current war against Iran is “all about China.” In fact, she believes the U.S. is waging an indirect war with China right now.

Riboua is the founder of the China in MENA Project which tracks Chinese influence and expansion across the Middle East and Africa.

Is there a bigger dimension to this war that many are missing?

“We have this tendency to just look at the countries involved… but there's a big player, and the big player here is China… China has been investing immensely in the region in the last two decades, in courting, in coordinating, in cooperating with Gulf countries, with Iran itself, and also with its proxies.”

And why, I ask her, has China been so keen on gaining strategic influence over the Middle East?

It’s because the CCP understands, she said, that “China cannot rise without having the United States weakened in one of the most important regions in the world... Iran has been that tool.”

@zriboua @HudsonInstitute