After nine months of disavowing the Obama administration’s Iran policy, US President Donald Trump has finally unveiled his strategy toward the Islamic Republic: all-out confrontation. His Oct. 13 speech announcing the policy was nothing short of war mongering and marks the elimination of any prospects for successful US-Iran diplomacy.
Trump's address and the White House fact sheet detailing his Iran policy centered on traditional US rebukes of Iran over its regional influence, defensive capabilities (such as its ballistic missile program), its domestic policies and the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Of course, he also followed through with his threat to decertify Iranian compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), against the wishes of his senior advisers and European allies, and even as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly verified Iran’s compliance with its obligations under the nuclear deal. Trump also said that if a “solution” to the JCPOA was not reached with Congress and US allies, “then the agreement will be terminated.” Furthermore, while he stopped short of designating the IRGC as a terrorist group, he imposed new sanctions on the organization.
