(July 23) Trump often changes positions on issues quickly. His most recent change is on Iran. He has said several times that he does not want war with Iran. However, on Monday he has said that things could go either way that there may or may not be war with Iran.
Trump's new statements
To reporters in the Oval Office Trump said: "Frankly it's getting harder for me to want to make a deal with Iran, because they behave very badly. Ill tell you it could go either way, very easily... And I'm OK either way it goes."
Trump also said that it was getting more difficult for him to want to make a deal with Iran as he claimed they were behaving very badly.
Trump stated that Iran's government is "a religious regime that is badly failing," and that has "tremendous problems economically." Many of Iran's economic problems are due to US sanctions enforced as much as possible on all countries even those that have no sanctions against Iran themselves.
Hawks within the Trump administration such as Bolton and Pompeo will no doubt be pleased at this change in attitude by Trump towards Iraq, especially his saying that he is OK with a war with Iran. This is exactly what the hawks want to hear. Earlier, Trump insisted that he did not want war with Iran.
Trump cites recent conflicts for his change of stance
Trump mentioned the downing of the two drones, a US drone by Iran and an Iranian one by Iran. Iran denies any of its drones have been downed. Trump also mentioned the Iranian claim that it had arrested 17 people connected to a CIA spy ring, a claim that Trump called a lie.
The US and Iran have been in increasing conflict ever since the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal the P5 plus 1, in which Iran agreed to put curbs on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. The EU has tried to keep its part of the bargain after the US withdrew.
Currently, many companies will not trade with Iran because they may be cut off from business with the US. As a result, Iran has not had the promised sanction relief, and the country has begun to break the terms of the agreement in protest. Trump has warned Iran about breaking the agreement even though the U.S. is no longer itself part of the agreement.
Trump could also have mentioned the Iranian seizure of UK tanker Stena Imperio as changing his stance. However, the tanker was seized after the UK had the Iranian tanker the Grace 1 seized off Gibraltar. The seizure is alleged to have been at the request of the US.
John Bolton applauded the seizure: "The US national security adviser, John Bolton, who has long sought regime change in Tehran, exulted in the capture on Twitter. Add in the plentiful historical reasons for Iran to distrust the UK, and its anger that Europe has not mitigated the effects of US 'maximum pressure', and the scene was set for the Stena Impero’s seizure."
As noted in a recent Digital Journal article and also on the appended video, EU sanctions do not apply to Iran so the seizure of the Iranian vessel is arguably illegal. This is an obvious point usually studiously omitted in most mainstream media accounts of events.
The situation seems to be developing exactly as the hawks within the Trump administration desires although so far outright war between the two countries has not broken out.
Previously published in the Digital Journal
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