Good morning! Today is Tuesday, May 26th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Ali Rizk warns that the Trump administration's unprecedented sanctions on Lebanese military and security officials accused of aiding Hezbollah risk being seen as an assault on the entire Shi'ite community, echoing the disastrous de-Ba'athification of post-Saddam Iraq. On day 48 of the U.S.–Iran ceasefire, President Trump declared it "should be mandatory" for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Türkiye, Egypt, and Jordan to join the Abraham Accords, as Iranian diplomats traveled to Doha to hammer out terms extending the truce and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Plus a roundup of TAC media appearances, from Curt Mills on Bannon's War Room dissecting Tulsi Gabbard's resignation to Andrew Day on BBC Radio 4 and the Christian Science Monitor charting the GOP. and now for the details. We begin in Lebanon, where the Trump administration has taken an unprecedented step, imposing sanctions on officials inside Lebanon's own military and security services accused of aiding Hezbollah. The targets include a Lebanese Army general and a branch chief of the Armed Forces' Intelligence Directorate, along with members of the Shi'ite Amal party, Hezbollah figures, and Iran's ambassador-designate to Beirut. It marks the first time Washington has sanctioned members of Lebanese state institutions themselves. The move comes alongside three rounds of direct Lebanese-Israeli talks, a Pentagon meeting between the two militaries scheduled for next week, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's plan to stand up vetted Lebanese Army units tasked with disarming Hezbollah. As Ali Rizk reports for The American Conservative, the sanctions appear drawn straight from the playbook of the "Israel First" expert community in Washington, including figures at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Rizk warns of a serious blind spot. All nine of the newly sanctioned individuals are Shi'ite. Washington, he argues, risks being seen not merely as targeting Hezbollah but as targeting the entire Lebanese Shi'ite community. He draws a parallel to post-Saddam Iraq, where de-Ba'athification fueled Sunni marginalization and opened the door to Zarqawi and the forerunners of ISIS. A recent poll, Rizk notes, found 88 percent of Lebanese Shi'ites oppose disarming Hezbollah, viewing the group as their protector amid Israeli strikes on predominantly Shi'ite areas and the Salafi-jihadi character of post-Assad Syria under Ahmad al-Sharaa. Rather than weakening Hezbollah, Rizk concludes, the broadened sanctions risk transforming the group's arsenal from an Iranian cause into a Shi'ite cause, raising the prospect of sectarian strife and full-blown chaos. He urges the administration to stop heeding the Israel Firsters, noting Hezbollah has never attacked the United States, and points to encouraging signs that the pro-Israel camp's grip on Trump may be loosening as Washington and Tehran inch toward an agreement. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.
