Hasn’t the US been a greater source of instability in the Middle East than Iran?

During a televised discussion over which country has been the main source of instability in the Middle East, I struggled to place Iran ahead of the US. While it is self-evident that no single country can be held responsible for all of the region’s pain and suffering – just as every individual possesses some degree of agency, however small that maybe, so do states and governments – it would be dishonest to look beyond the US in such conversations. American posture towards the Middle East is best summed up by the well-known proverb, “if a hammer is all you have, everything looks like a nail”. The...