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Trump’s Iran Move at UN Amplifies ‘America First’ Snub of Allies

  • Pompeo said European allies were siding with ‘the ayatollahs’
  • U.S. is ‘burning all the bridges’ with allies, diplomat says
Donald Trump during a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadh a day after he announced he will allow UN Security Council sanctions to 'snap back' into place against Iran, Aug. 20.

Donald Trump during a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadh a day after he announced he will allow UN Security Council sanctions to 'snap back' into place against Iran, Aug. 20.

Photographer:  Anna Moneymaker-Pool/Getty Images

The U.S. move to “snap back” UN nuclear sanctions on Iran involves legal arcana unlikely to be resolved quickly. What’s clear, however, is that the Trump administration took an approach certain to inflict damage on Iran and relations with America’s allies.

For critics and supporters alike, the disputed U.S. effort to force the restoration of international sanctions on Tehran was peak “America First,” a policy undertaken with little pretense of diplomacy and without regard to the consequences.