[I]nstead of horsewhipping Iran and its Houthi allies, Washington and its Saudi ally have suffered a series of  ignominious blows that have advanced the impression that Trump, for all his bluster, is, in fact a paper tiger, hawking expensive weapons unsuited to the "war between war" expertise of the Iranians and their allies and no more willing than his predecessor to use force to protect Washington's Arab allies.  

Washington pronounced itself "locked and loaded" after the downing of a U.S. drone by Iran in June. And it looked on in disbelief as a well-coordinated attack on Saudi oil facilities in September went undetected by U.S. intelligence and undefended by U.S. weapons supplied to Riyadh. In the former incident Washington eschewed a military response for more sanctions--a policy instrument that has become Washington's default almost everywhere. In the latter, the Pentagon has decided to do more of the same, sending more Patriots and U.S. forces to operate them, the modern day version of shutting the barn door after the horses have escaped.. 

Both are merely stopgap measures that do nothing to address the hollowness of American security policies in the Gulf, promoted not because of their effectiveness, but rather because no one can think of anything better to do. 

Little wonder then that Vladimir Putin, together with the presidents of Turkey and Iran, had a nice laugh at Washington's expense, in a public mocking of the failure of U.S. supplied weapons to prevent the attack on Saudi oil facilities.

"All the political leaders of Saudi Arabia have to do is take a wise decision, as Iran did by buying the S-300 missile system, and as President Erdogan did when he bought Russia's latest S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft system,"  Putin remarked, prompting laughter from President Hassan Rouhani alongside him.

Like a modern day Gulliver, the Trump administration has been all but immobilized by the modulated, well-considered military challenges from Iran.