Donald Trump Has a Point

In spite of this, the U.S. president is doing an enormous amount of damage with his Iran policies – the only question is who will suffer the most.

In Donald Trump’s world, everything is quite simple: his freakish threats of war brought North Korea’s regime to its knees. Now, he backs out of the nuclear deal in order to use sanctions to force the rulers in Tehran into new negotiations. So simple, so efficient.

And so wrong. Because Kim Jong Un, who sees himself and not the U.S. in a position of strength, is dictating the tempo in the North Korea question.

On the other hand, the nuclear deal with Iran is, indeed, in no way perfect. Destroying it, however, is the riskiest of all options.

In 2015, Iran made a commitment to Great Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the U.S. to put its uranium enrichment – and with that the capability of building nuclear weapons – on hold for the time being. In return, sanctions imposed because of the nuclear program were suspended, or in the case of the U.S., frozen.

After 15 years, however, the ban on uranium enrichment expires. In the meantime, according to Trump’s criticism, Iran is massively expanding its arsenal of missiles, using freed-up money for military expansion in Yemen and Syria and will only then take the last step — building nuclear warheads. That cannot be denied in light of the hardliner faction in Tehran that is just as strong as it is obstinate. Discontinuing the obligations in the nuclear deal, however, will just shorten the path to the bomb – and with the planned reinstatement of a package of U.S. sanctions, exactly that could happen. America would have broken its word and Tehran would be justified in immediately ramping up its uranium enrichment again.

Will that happen? No, not unless the hardliners use the opportunity to overthrow President Hassan Rouhani. If this does not happen, then for now, Iran and the rest of the world will probably try to find a way to save the deal, if need be for themselves, in opposition to America. There is still time for that. The reinstated U.S. sanctions will not take effect for several months.

It is entirely possible that Trump is acting the gorilla; roaring loudly and pounding his chest to be admired and then content with little. One way or the other, the damage is now tremendous. America’s credibility as a treaty power has gone down the drain; Iran faces a real test internally; and more than ever, the region is in an uproar.

This U.S. president is a disgrace.