On August 2, President Donald Trump said he would halt planned U.S. strikes on Iran after Middle Eastern allies outlined the parameters of a possible agreement to end the five-month war. The announcement came after weeks of renewed escalation, pressure from Gulf partners, and repeated disputes over how far the conflict should go. It also exposed a question larger than the immediate ceasefire effort: Is Washington still setting its own strategic priorities, or is another Middle Eastern conflict once again beginning to set them for Washington? For more than a decade, successive American administrations—despite profound political differences—have broadly recognized the…