In Donald Trump’s first national security strategy (NSS), he rightly frames the Iranian Regime as “rogue state” that threatens US interests in the Middle East.
This 55-page document, released on Monday, draws from Trump’s foreign policy speeches since taking office and insists that the US has a responsibility to make sure that the Middle East is not a breeding ground for terrorism or dominated by a force which is hostile to the US.
The NSS reads: “The scourge of the world today is a small group of rogue regimes that violate all principles of free and civilized states. The longer we ignore threats from countries determined to proliferate and develop weapons of mass destruction, the worse such threats become, and the fewer defensive options we have.”
This document often serves as a predictor for the future foreign policy of the USA and so many see this as evidence that the US will be getting much tougher on the Iranian Regime.
Jack Detsch, an expert in US-Middle East relations, wrote: “Monday’s strategy could provide a preview of how the Trump administration’s pressure campaign will develop over the next year. It cited Iran’s efforts to beef up its influence through proxy groups, weapons proliferation and a recommitment to its ballistic missile program, activities that have continued unabated since the 2015 nuclear deal.”
Trump himself even spoke on Monday to highlight that there will be a break in the appeasement of the Iranian Regime.
He said: “Our leaders engaged in nation building abroad but failed to build up and replenish our nation at home. [All we got was a] disastrous, weak, and incomprehensibly bad deal with Iran and allowed terrorists such as ISIS to gain control of vast parts of territory all across the Middle East.”
Whilst senior administration officials confirmed that they are working towards a solution to the challenges of the Middle East, including ISIS, Iran’s destabilisation efforts, and economic stagnation.
One official, who spoke anonymously said: “It’s a strategy that is already operationalised. These are principles that have been put into effect over the last year. We reaffirm the president’s Iran strategy, we don’t get into specifics, but we do understand that Iran is a malign actor in the region.”
The White House also pledged $110 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, back in May, to help in the fight against ISIS and to control the Iranian Regime (both extremist ideologies) but this has been held up because of infighting between various members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, caused by Iran.
The Iranian Regime, named “the world’s most significant state sponsor of terrorism” in the NSS, are strengthening their ties to Shiite groups such as Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, by supplying them with training, funds, and weapons.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley presented evidence that the Iranian Regime supplied the Houthis with the ballistic missiles that they fired on Saudi Arabia.
She said: “Our new strategy was prompted by the undeniable fact that the Iranian regime’s behaviour is growing worse.”
Source » ncr-iran