I believe it is real, the US has created a Western-aligned bloc in the Middle East, consisting of Egypt and some Gulf States, that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago. This ensures oil supply to itself and its allies in the event of a war, and acts as a hedge against full Russia/China control of the region. One reason these states are playing ball with the US is because they expect things in return, for example the Saudis want access to nuclear energy technology.

You can see the same leverage at play in East Asia, where the US is forcing good relations between South Korea and Japan. The military bases there cost a lot of money, but serve a deterrence purpose against China which is necessary for the US' policy of containment, and confer a level of soft influence that wouldn't otherwise be possible. The pacification of Japan and forced alignment with the US, resulting in 80 years of Japan-US trade, was certainly in the US' own net interests, even though it originally cost a lot of money to do it.

Most things aren't zero sum (they are either very negative sum or very positive sum), and indirect benefits can be equally valuable to direct contributions.