Trump in Danger of Repeating Obama’s Iran Mistake
Any future deal with the Islamic Republic must be about more than just nuclear weapons.
Trump speaks to the media.
Photographer: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who seems obsessed with undoing his predecessor’s legacy, is in danger of repeating Barack Obama’s fundamental mistake on Iran: Making the confrontation with the Islamic Republic almost exclusively about nuclear weapons.
In recent weeks, Trump has on several occasions repeated his willingness to negotiate with the regime in Tehran, even as he slapped more sanctions on Iranian institutions and individuals, and threatened “obliteration” if Americans are attacked. While not quite the same as talking softly and carrying a big stick, it is at least a simulacrum of a strategy – except that, as I have written before, the administration hasn’t properly defined its objectives.