For many years, Washington has signaled intentions to diminish its presence in the Middle East. However, recent developments in 2025 suggest a different narrative: rather than retreating, American influence has played a pivotal role in reshaping the region. Analysts shared insights with Fox News Digital, highlighting this unexpected turn.

Blaise Misztal, the policy vice president at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), emphasized that recent events reaffirm a crucial strategic understanding. “The year 2025 has highlighted a fact that Middle East observers have long recognized, though U.S. policymakers have been hesitant to accept: strength remains the dominant currency, and there is no equal alternative to U.S. leadership,” he explained.

Israeli political analyst Nadav Eyal observed a clear shift in U.S. involvement. “In 2025, we’ve witnessed an increasing role of the United States, contrary to expectations of withdrawal,” Eyal noted. “The U.S. successfully negotiated a hostage exchange and a ceasefire in Gaza, contributed to stabilizing Syria, and enhanced cooperation with countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.”

Eyal further stated, “The notion that the U.S. has exited the Middle East is now clearly outdated.”

In a significant diplomatic achievement, President Donald Trump was seen at a global summit focused on resolving the Gaza conflict. This event, held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on October 13, 2025, marked the conclusion of a U.S.-mediated prisoner-hostage exchange and a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. (Photo credit: Suzanne Plunkett/Pool/Reuters)

Gaza: The ceasefire and the hostages

During 2025, the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire that ended the two-year war in Gaza and returned all Israeli hostages except for the body of Ran Gvili, which still remains in Hamas’ hands. The deal was initially met with deep skepticism inside Israel. 

President Donald Trump traveled to both Israel, where he addressed the Knesset, and Cairo to finalize the agreement, coordinating with Arab leaders and mediators in a complex process that included an exchange of Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons for hostages.

“There is absolutely no doubt that without President Trump’s intervention, this could have lasted much longer, or maybe not have ended at all, or ended in tragedy,” Eyal said, adding that the administration fundamentally changed what had been considered possible.

“He expanded the realm of possibilities,” Eyal said. “If someone had told us six months earlier that this would be the framework of the deal, and that all the living hostages would be back home within 72 hours, we would have said it’s a great idea, but Hamas would never agree.”

Israeli hostages released in the Trump-brokered ceasefire deal met with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. (The Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

According to Eyal, the breakthrough came from Israeli military pressure combined with U.S. insistence and regional coordination. “The military pressure put by Israel, enabled by the White House, together with the White House’s insistence and the enlistment of Qatar and Turkey, is what made the breakthrough,” he said.

Misztal also argued that the outcome was not the result of diplomacy alone. “The relative calm that the region is now enjoying, after two years of war, is not the result of diplomacy, which failed on its own to stop Iran’s nuclear advance or convince Hamas to return Israeli hostages,” Misztal said. “It is the result of Israeli and U.S. willingness to use force, and do so together in pursuit of common objectives.”

“Operations Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer, coupled with the Israeli strike in Doha, unlocked the path to peace,” he added.

The ceasefire remains fragile but intact, with the U.S. now deeply involved in shaping the postwar phase in Gaza.

President Donald Trump met with seven hostages freed from Hamas captivity, March 7, 2025. (Photo provided by Hostages Families Forum)

Regional shockwaves

On Dec. 8 last year, after Israel defeated Hezbollah, the Assad regime in Syria collapsed, signaling a dramatic shift in the regional balance of power.

That momentum carried into 2025. Operation Rising Lion known as the 12-day war, underscored Israel’s air superiority, with Israeli aircraft striking Iranian military infrastructure and eliminating senior IRGC commanders.

The campaign also highlighted the depth of U.S.-Israel coordination, culminating in a U.S. strike that targeted Iran’s nuclear program and curtailed Tehran’s ability to support its proxies.

Smoke rises from a building of the Soroka hospital complex after it was hit by a missile fired from Iran in Be’er Sheva, Israel, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Eyal said Iran now faces a period of profound uncertainty. “Iran will, without doubt, try to rebuild its influence after its proxy system was shattered,” he said. “It was defeated in war with Israel and lost most of its nuclear program.”

Two questions now dominate. “Can Iran rebuild its alliances, its prestige and its sources of power, like the nuclear program or air defenses, and stabilize itself again as a regional power?” Eyal asked. “The deeper question,” he added, “is what happens to the regime.”

He described Iran as increasingly unstable, with a devastated economy and growing public discontent. “It seems like almost everything is ripe for a substantial change in Iran,” he said. “Whether the Islamic Republic can survive without significant reform, or whether there will be a coup or counterrevolution, will take us well into 2026.”

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows damage at the Fordow enrichment facility in Iran after U.S. strikes, June 22, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

“The sands of the Middle East are always shifting”: What to expect in 2026

Eyal said the past year forced a reckoning about Hamas’ future. “In 2025, Israelis, and to a certain extent countries in the Middle East, woke up from a fantasy that Hamas would cease to exist completely as a functioning body,” he said.

“Everybody understands there will be some sort of presence of Hamas, and unfortunately, they will hold some sort of armed power,” Eyal added. “The question is, to what level can you reduce it?”

Palestinians amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, on Feb. 10, 2025. (Mahmoud ssa/Anadolu via Getty Images)

At the same time, he stressed the scale of Hamas’ losses. “In 2025 they suffered tremendous defeats and were wiped out as a functioning military body,” Eyal said. “This is the year in which it happened.”

“Even after losing half of Gaza, with Gaza devastated, and the hostages returned, they are still functioning as a military organization,” he added. “That means they are incredibly resistant or flexible.”

Misztal warned that the calm will not hold without sustained U.S. engagement. “The sands of the Middle East are always shifting,” he said. “Today’s calm will not last without consistent effort applied to uphold it.”

Hamas terrorists stand in formation to watch the handover of three Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on Feb. 8, 2025. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

He warned that 2026 could see renewed pressure from multiple fronts. “Adversaries will seek to reassert themselves and find new advantages,” Misztal said. “Iran will test the boundaries of U.S. and Israeli patience and ISIS or other Sunni extremists may seek a spectacular attack to mark their comeback.”

“These will all be tests for the U.S. appetite to continue applying the ‘peace through strength’ approach,” Misztal said. “If Washington takes its eyes off the region, the progress of the last year might quickly be lost.”