By Trita Parsi
May 21, 2017 "Information Clearing House" - The speech was interesting in many ways, including his tough line on the Saudis and their allies not doing enough to confront their extremists, urging them to drive the extremists out.
But the most consequential part of it may be his line that Iran must be isolated until it has a different regime that deals with the world differently.
Just when Iranians voted overwhelmingly for openness and engagement with world, Trump clenched his fist and responded by calling for Iran's isolation. It raises the question as to whether the United States wants to lose Iran as an enemy.
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Combining isolation with a
call for regime change - ironically after
the Iranians went and massively participated
in their presidential elections - is how the
groundwork for the Iraq war was laid.
It is a return to the Bush administration’s
Iran policy in which Iran’s all out
isolation was sought combined with a refusal
to engage diplomatically with Tehran.
Returning to a policy of isolation is a
violation of the nuclear deal with Iran.
This is yet another measure in which the
Trump administration is continuing to
violate the deal while giving the appearance
that it isn’t seeking to kill the deal.
While the call for the isolation of Iran
will be welcomed in Riyadh, it will further
disconnect U.S. policy in the Middle East
with that of the US’s EU allies who seek an
inclusive security dialogue in the region.
Rather than being a speech that marks the
beginning of an era of peace, as Trump
declared, it may be remembered as the speech
that marked the beginning of a new era of
US-Iran confrontation - started by Trump on
behalf of the Saudi dictatorship.
Trita Parsi is the founder and current
president of the National Iranian American
Council, author of Treacherous Alliance and
A Single Roll of the Dice. He regularly
authors articles in print, and appears on TV
to commentate on foreign policy.