On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump revived the tough line toward Iran that he pursued during his first term in office.This was laid out most clearly in two documents released by the White House: “National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-2” and “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Restores Maximum Pressure on Iran.”NSPM-2 is addressed to 17 senior officials at 16 U.S. government agencies, including the State Department.
It contains four directions to the Secretary of State. One aims to prevent Iran from using the facilities of regional states to circumvent the renewed U.S. sanctions.
That direction has two parts. One part is to maintain a watchful eye on Iraq’s banking system, which Iran has used in the past to evade sanctions. The second part is to prevent Gulf countries from acting as transshipment routes for Iran’s import of prohibited goods.
Thus, NSPM-2 directs the Secretary of State to “take immediate steps in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury and other relevant agencies to ensure that the Iraqi financial system is not utilized by Iran for sanctions evasion or circumvention and that Gulf countries are not used as sanctions evasion transshipment points.”
Iran as Major State Sponsor of Terrorism
The view of Iran, as expressed in NSPM-2, is the reverse of that held by the Biden administration, when it took office in January 2021. It believed then that U.S. pressure on Iran, which had been Trump’s policy, was a major source of regional instability. So, it adopted an accommodating position toward Tehran.
But that policy failed. There was no reduction in tensions, rather they increased, particularly after Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border assault into Israel.
Eventually the Biden administration came around to the view that Iran was, indeed, an aggressive power. It posed a threat to the region and had to be contained, as President Joe Biden told Congress in his March 2024 State of the Union speech.
NSPM-2 described Iran as a major source of terrorism, providing funding and expertise to a significant number of terrorist groups.
“Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terror and has aided Hizbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, the Taliban, al-Qa’ida, and other terrorist networks,” it said, adding, “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is itself a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
NSPM-2 also explained that Iran was behind Hamas’s assault on Israel and then it mobilized other groups it backed, so they supported Hamas by attacking Israel, and the west, from other directions and in other places.
That is the view of a figure like Amb. John Bolton, who complained to Kurdistan 24 already in January 2024 that the Biden administration lacked a strategic view of this violence.
As Bolton said, “I look at the conflicts across the region as all being on one chessboard and the responsible party here are the ayatollahs in Tehran through their surrogate proxy groups—terrorists like Hamas, Hizbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, the Shi’ite militia groups in Iraq and Syria.”
NSPM-2 also described Iranian plotting against Americans, including in the U.S. itself.
“The Iranian Government, including the IRGC, is using agents and cyber-enabled means to target United States nationals living in the United States and other countries around the world for attacks, including assault, kidnapping, and murder,” it stated.
“Iran has also directed its proxy groups, including Hizbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization, to embed sleeper cells in the [U.S.] Homeland to be activated in support of this terrorist activity,” it continued.
NSPM-2 gave few details about those plots, but it is already public knowledge that Trump, himself, has been targeted by Iran, as has Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Brian Hook, a top aide to Pompeo.
However, in what seems a rather mean-spirited move, Trump recently took away the government security protection that all three men had enjoyed, because of the Iranian threat against them.
Objectives of Trump’s Tough Policy
A “Fact Sheet” accompanying NSPM-2 explained Trump’s three main bjectives in the tough line he is re-imposing on Iran.
The top issue is preventing Iran from acquiring some of the most dangerous arms: nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
In addition, “Iran’s terrorist network should be neutralized.”
And, finally, “Iran’s aggressive development of missiles, as well as other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities, should be countered.”
Source » kurdistan24