If the US administration’s goal is to weaken Iran’s reform movement, it deserves a round of applause. Since coming to power, President Donald Trump has taken consecutive steps to distance Washington and Tehran — and, in the process, to increasingly damage Iranian moderates and Reformists.
All the while, Iranian hard-liners couldn’t be more content. They are now certain of victory in the upcoming 2020 parliamentary polls and 2021 presidential vote as people are disappointed with those in Iran who have for years been calling for negotiations with the United States. But Iranian moderates and Reformists are not the only losers in the current setting. The United States is also losing its popularity and credibility among ordinary Iranians. Indeed, according to a survey conducted by the University of Maryland in 2018, 80% of Iranians expressed an unfavorable opinion of America — a development that would be hard to imagine until recent years.