Decoding America’s Movements

The coronavirus has had the most destructive effect on the economy, and to overcome economic problems after COVID-19, countries will have to be prepared to forfeit economic opportunity.

One of the approaches of the U.S. political administration has been, and remains, projection. Whenever this country faces internal difficulties, its leaders try to project public opinion away from their inefficient management by creating a series of minor issues and connecting them to the security of the U.S. and its allies.

In today’s international community, we are also witnessing how COVID-19 has challenged the U.S. economy and its society more than any other country, and we are clearly seeing America’s demise. Although these conditions are partly due to the widespread expansion of the coronavirus, the U.S. public and the country’s analysts consider the inefficiency of the Trump administration to be one of the most important factors in the rapid growth of the disease in the United States. It is therefore possible that Donald Trump will lose the 2020 presidential election because of how poorly he managed to control the coronavirus. Consequently, like his predecessor, Trump is trying to psychologically sway public opinion so that Americans vote against their will on the issue of security.

In fact, today Trump and his campaign team find they are incapable of solving the country’s domestic and international problems. Therefore, they are trying to turn a minor issue into a major challenge, forcing voters to sidestep the main election agenda due to matters related to the crisis and security. With that in mind, the U.S. is trying to escalate the crisis in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and even in Southeast Asia.

On the other hand, the U.S. government, in particular the Trump administration, has been provoking extreme anti-Iran sentiment for several years so it could take advantage of that resentment at the right moment. Although moves against Iran were expected to escalate before the presidential election, that strategy was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the country began projecting distractions for domestic consumption earlier than anticipated.

The second reason for U.S. movement in the Persian Gulf concerns the end of Iran’s arms embargo. From the moment he took office, relying on his reputation as a patriotic businessman, Trump focused all his efforts on imposing sanctions on Iran to force the Islamic Republic to weaken. However, practically speaking, this has meant further reliance on Iran’s economy and increased Iran’s resilience. Since Americans did not believe that the Iranian economy would survive to this point, they did not consider the fact that Iran and the European signatories to the Iran nuclear deal continued to treat the deal as an important agreement. Meanwhile, the Iran nuclear deal reached the half-way mark without the U.S., and now Islamic Iran, on one side of this international agreement, is seriously demanding that the U.S. fulfill its obligations, which is not to the liking of Trump’s totalitarian regime. Therefore, these days, the U.S. is trying to gain some benefit from the nuclear deal to which it is not a party. In this regard, Trump’s advisers believe that one of the reasons Iran has had such success in overcoming the economic crisis is its extensive relations with China, which explains Trump’s pressure on, and threats against, China.

Undoubtedly, the United States’ selfish treatment of its allies, including China and Russia, has given America’s partners enough incentive to defy the will of the United States, and lifting Iran’s arms embargo could deal a major blow to U.S. sanctions policy in Iran. Since this situation is considered inconsistent with U.S. unilateralist policy, the U.S. is trying to prevent the lifting of Iran’s arms embargo by conducting military and security operations in the region and stirring up heated conflict there as well. Although Iran has moved beyond being an importer of weapons, this situation could pave the way for Iran to enter the arms market.

It must be noted that after Trump took office, the U.S. failed to make reasonable use of international resources, thus ignoring its commitments to the global community. As a result, it now feels it is a victim of the ideas it acted on, and COVID-19 has made its situation more difficult. The coronavirus has had the most destructive effect on the economy, and to overcome economic problems after COVID-19, countries will not only have to be prepared to forfeit economic opportunities, but will also have to compete closely to make a profit.

Under such circumstances, fewer countries will comply with the U.S. version of sanctions, as Iran’s economy will become an attractive market for its trading partners due to its focus on non-oil goods. Therefore, apprehensive of this outcome, the U.S. is trying to prevent the expansion of economic relations with Iran by putting pressure on Europe.

Finally, if we want to summarize the United States’ recent actions and game-playing in the region and in the world––including Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen–– we need to expose the pressure being placed on Europeans and Venezuela, intervention in international waters and that of other countries in the region, and increasing economic pressure on Iran and China. It should be noted that an important reason for this action is America’s domestic problems and the approaching election campaign, a campaign that is being conducted with the goal of psychologically influencing the American people. Also, at a global level, the United States is losing its international status due to Trump’s reckless and unilateralist policies. Assessing the state of this country with respect to its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement shows that the withdrawal acted to the detriment of the United States, regardless of its arrogant attempts to enter into some equivalent agreement.