Trump's Saudi embrace, Iran disdain upend Obama's vision: analysts
US President Donald Trump's emphatic embrace of Sunni Arab regimes and his vilification of Iran mark a stark departure from the vision of his predecessor Barack Obama in the volatile region, analysts say. Pointedly delivering his first foreign speech in Riyadh on Sunday, Trump praised the six-state Gulf Cooperation Council, specifically Saudi Arabia, for efforts to cut off funding to extremists while lambasting Iran as the "spearhead of terrorism". While the unpredictable Trump completed the visit to the region without committing a major gaffe, his approach "swept away the entire Obama legacy with the wave of a hand," said Thierry Coville, an Iran expert at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.