President Trump’s hard-line stance with Iran has not escaped criticism from many people who feel that his diplomatic style is too incendiary and provocative. Many believe that his scrapping of the Iran deal and the recent vote to extend the Iranian arms embargo will force us into an isolated foreign policy which will be damaging to the U.S. However, critics of an aggressive strategy on Iran suffer from a severe case of eurocentrism, forgetting that we have many non-European allies. Far from risking isolation, the hardball U.S. foreign policy against Iran is an important counter-measure to hostile actors who want to see a dangerous and powerful Iran in the Middle East.
Those who criticize U.S. foreing policy as risking isolation against Iran completely ignore our status in areas of the world other than Europe. While it may be true that Western European countries wish to preserve the shoddy Iran nuclear deal, we have many Middle Eastern allies who support us in our fight to stop Iranian aggression. One such ally is Israel who has been a harsh critic of the Iran Nuclear Deal. Back in 2018, in a bid to convince the U.S. to leave the deal, Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu brought forward evidence detailing how Iran lied about its nuclear goals before singing the Iran deal in 2018. Israeli operatives recovered 55,000 pages of evidence in a Tehran warehouse.
Critics of Netanyahu argued that he was engaging in political showmanship in order to convince the Trump administration to leave the Iran Nuclear Deal. Even if this is true it is important to realize two things 1.) The Iran Nuclear Deal is meant to stop Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon 2.) Israel doesn’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon because Iran wants to destroy them. If the nuclear deal actually did its professed job of stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear warheads, Israel’s criticism of the deal would be incongruous with its desires. From the beginning Israel recognized the fact that the deal will not stop Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon and they are prepared to stand with use in our fight for international stability.
However, U.S. policy is not merely a bilateral pact with Israel. Other Arab countries are also in strong opposition to Iran because it is a threat to the entire Middle East. The U.A.E.-Israel peace deal offers a prime example of how U.S. policy towards Iran is a recognition of Middle-Eastern interests. The peace deal is as much (if not more) about stifling Iran’s regional ambitions as it is about promoting peace. Recognizing this fact, Iranian officials were quick to criticize the deal as a “huge mistake.”
Even countries who haven’t normalized relations with Israel are highly supportive of U.S. measures to neutralize the Iranian threat. Saudi Arabia voiced its support of the U.S. decision to leave the deal back in 2018. According to their Foreign Ministry, “Iran used economic gains from the lifting of sanctions to continue its activities to destabilize the region, particularly by developing ballistic missiles and supporting terrorist groups in the region.” The powerful gulf states have affirmed their position that they see Iran as a threat to be countered with the help of the U.S.
Those who believe that the U.S. is wrong for voting to extend the Iranian arms embargo without the support of other UN security council members or for leaving the Iran Nuclear deal suffer from the arrogance which causes powerful countries to impose their will on other states. President Trump’s Iran policy is a recognition of what is best for the peace and stability of the Middle East. The great powers of the region in question have spoken and they are allied with the U.S. in its fight to stop Iran from being a dominant power.
