Eli Lake, Columnist

Trump's Tough Talk on Iran Fails to Mask His Inaction

Like Obama, he does not address the greatest threat Tehran poses: its expansion in Syria and Iraq.

October 13, 2017 at 7:37 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

The Trump administration says it's working on a Syria policy. But time is not on the side of America and its allies.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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For anyone baffled by President Barack Obama's humiliating outreach to Iran in his second term, President Donald Trump's speech Friday was cathartic.

He spoke plainly about Iran's "rogue regime," which seized power by revolution and "forced its people to submit to fanatical rule." The nation’s Revolutionary Guard will be designated as supporting terrorism and sanctioned. Trump seeks to assure us that he will never allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon.