New York Times (September 27)
“The only solace in the current American standoff with Iran is that President Trump seems not to want to risk a war. That is of some comfort in a crisis that has left the United States looking weak and untrustworthy. But the crisis could still descend into armed conflict, and that is largely attributable to Mr. Trump’s poorly considered strategy.”
New York Times (June 23)
President Trump has made a mess of Iran. His “decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal and impose crippling sanctions, when Iran was in full compliance, was foolish and, predictably, has backfired.” Still, “we are where we are” and fortunately that’s not yet full-scale war. “Finding a way to leverage his massive mistakes while demonstrating the will and capacity to climb down is our least bad option.” If he can act rationally, “with uncharacteristic clarity and resolve,” the President “now has an opening to restart talks on Iran’s nuclear program.”
Tags: Backfired, Compliance, Foolish, Iran, Mess, Mistakes, Nuclear deal, Opening, Sanctions, Trump, War, Withdraw
Washington Post (June 18)
“The president’s lying is the only argument you need in a debate about Trump…. There is virtually no topic about which Trump hasn’t lied, often repeatedly. Immigration, trade, Iran, North Korea, health care — they all lead back to false and misleading claims.” For this reason, 500 days before the election, the Florida Sentinel became the first newspaper to make a 2020 presidential endorsement: “Not Donald Trump,” who the paper deemed a “unique and present danger” to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Tags: Constitution, Danger, Election, Endorsement, False, Florida Sentinel, Health care, Immigration, Iran, Lying, Misleading, Newspaper, North Korea, Trade, Trump
Wall Street Journal (June 18)
“The boom in U.S. oil production…has become a strategic advantage against authoritarian governments that want to use oil as a weapon. Europe’s weak economy doesn’t have to cope with an oil shock, and the U.S. can squeeze Iran’s exports without damaging the global economy.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Boom, Economy, Exports, Iran, Oil, Production, Shock, Strategic advantage, U.S., Weapon. Europe
Washington Post (June 14)
“Is the Iran-U.S. tinderbox about to ignite?” In one sense, it already has. Burning tankers provided “the dramatic imagery that sometimes precedes armed conflict.” Clearly fraught, the confrontation is partly due to “Iranian overconfidence” and frustration. “Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign has collided head on with Khamenei’s maximum resistance. Met by American economic warfare, Iran’s hard-liners are doubling down with their own forms of deniable warfare, with mines, drones and proxy attacks.”
Tags: Armed conflict, Confrontation, Deniable warfare, Drones, Economic warfare, Frustration, Hard-liners, Ignite, Iran, Khamenei, Mines, Overconfidence, Pressure, Proxy attacks, Resistance, Tankers, Tinderbox, Trump’s, U.S.
CNN (March 1)
The lack of an agreement with North Korea, as well as Trump’s other disappointments are dimming “the mystique central to his political appeal as an instinctive deal maker who can get his way through bluffing, charm and lightning business reflexes.” The reality couldn’t be more different. “In fact, Trump has shown more proficiency in breaking deals than making them after pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris global climate pact and abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive multilateral trade deal.” His presidency is turning into “the art of the no deal.”
Tags: Appeal, Disappointments, Iran, Mystique, No-deal, North Korea, Paris, TPP, Trump, U.S.
LA Times (November 5)
Though the “Trump administration slapped tough U.S. sanctions on Iran’s energy, banking and shipping industries,” there are “gaping holes” as the White House “granted waivers to the six largest importers of Iranian oil.” China, India, South Korea, Turkey, Italy and Japan accounted for “more than 75% of Iran’s oil exports last year.”
Tags: Banking, China, Energy, Exports, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Oil, Sanctions, Shipping, South Korea, Trump, Turkey, U.S., Waivers
Oil Price.com (October 18)
“An estimated 20 million barrels are destined to flow from Iran to China over the next few weeks, up from the usual 1 to 3 million barrels each month.” The Trump administration is unlikely to halt Iranian oil. Furtive shipments from Iran to India” also “demonstrate the limits of U.S. power.” Even after the November 4 deadline, “discounts, off-the-books shipments, bartering and other clandestine maneuvers should keep some Iranian oil flowing.” The deals are simply too “hard to pass up for would-be buyers.”
Tags: Buyers, China, Clandestine, Deadline, Discounts, Furtive, India, Iran, Oil, Shipments, Trump, U.S.
Time (September 26)
“President Trump’s efforts to isolate Iran at the U.N. backfired.” “The fiery speeches against Iran,” instead, revealed the “divisions… between the U.S. and its closest allies.” Most “foreign nations have opted to defend the agreement” with Iran, “rather than join America’s outbursts against it.” In fact, Russia, China, Germany, Britain, and France agreed “to set up legal entity to circumvent U.S. sanctions.”
Tags: Allies, Backfired, Britain, China, Circumvent, France, Germany, Iran, Outburst, Russia, Sanctions, Trump, U.N., U.S.
The Economist (May 19)
Unless European “companies or their governments take the fight all the way to the White House, they have little choice but to abide by the long—and sometimes wrong—arm of American law.” America’s threat of sanctions on companies doing business with Iran impacts major players including Total, Airbus, Peugeot, Renault and SWIFT. Still, it remains to be seen if “there is the stomach for such a battle.”
Tags: Airbus, European, Fight, Governments, Iran, Law, Peugeot, Renault, Sanctions, Swift, Threat, Total, White House
