Empty Chest-Thumping Won’t Win U.S. Allies on Iran
Two years after leaving the Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. has won few converts to its maximum pressure campaign.
You aren’t leading if nobody is following.
Photographer: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images North AmericaEven by the standards of hyperbole set by the administration of President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s contention that the U.S. is “Leading the World Against Iran’s Threats” is a doozy. That chest-thumper is the title of a statement issued on the second anniversary of the American withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. As an accounting of the administration’s strategy to contain the Islamic Republic since then, the statement completely disregards the cost to relations with U.S. allies.
There is no gainsaying the claim that Trump’s tough economic sanctions have “prevented Iran from funding and equipping terrorists with many billions of dollars.” The region would have been even more unstable if the regime in Tehran was unhindered by the sanctions. The recent belligerence by Iran and its proxies can be attributed to their growing frustration at being shackled. So, the contention that “the Middle East is more peaceful than if we had stayed [in the deal]” just about passes muster.