Following years of trashing his predecessor’s engagement with Iran, Trump found himself echoing key elements of the Obama approach to avoid creating another front in America’s Middle East wars.
President Donald Trump started with over-the-top, machismo rhetoric toward Iran. He ended by backing down so far that he sounded more like his predecessor.
In a span of just 24 hours, Trump went from threatening to devastate Iran and bomb its cultural sites — a move widely considered a war crime and condemned by Republicans — to calmly delivering a measured address about slapping economic sanctions on the country, striking a new nuclear deal and urging an international institution — NATO — to become more involved in the Middle East.
“The fact that we have this great military and equipment … does not mean we have to use it,” Trump said in televised remarks late Wednesday morning, surrounded by a phalanx of men in uniform who stood in a half-moon formation behind his podium. “We do not want to use it.” Continue reading.