Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine Corps general and former head of US Central Command who has been working as an envoy for the Trump administration to resolve the Gulf crisis has resigned from his position with the State Department.
Zinni told CBS News he resigned after realising he could not help resolve the dispute "because of the unwillingness of the regional leaders to agree to a viable mediation effort that we offered to conduct or assist in implementing."
Zinni also felt there was no need for his involvement with the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA) concept, a security alliance that he was asked to introduce to regional leaders, since other members of the administration are carrying it forward.
Zinni had agreed to work as a special adviser to the secretary of state on Middle East issues at the request of then-defence secretary Jim Mattis and then-secretary of state Rex Tillerson, both of whom have since left the administration in the wake of significant policy differences with President Donald Trump.
