President Donald Trump on Tuesday attacked Iran in a heated speech at the United Nations
General Assembly, in what sounded like an update of an address he made
one year ago at the same venue railing against North Korea. But Iran’s
leader made it clear hours later that Trump shouldn’t expect similar
results when it comes to negotiating with Tehran.
Trump
on Tuesday repeated his criticism of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal ― which
the U.S. withdrew from in May ― and accused Iranian leaders of
supporting terrorism and corruption and of sowing chaos in the Middle
East. He vowed to impose more economic sanctions against Iran and called
for the country’s international isolation.
Just
as with North Korea last time around, Trump’s attacks come as he seeks
to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran. The president’s rhetoric
toward Iran has echoed the threats, insults and occasional diplomatic
overtures he used ahead of negotiations with North Korea over its
nuclear program earlier this year. In those negotiations, he took an
aggressive initial stance before agreeing to a summit and drastically
softening his tone on the country.
While
the ongoing North Korean nuclear negotiations helped de-escalate a
potential military conflict, something Trump’s rhetoric stirred
widespread concern over, it’s still unclear what the end result of the
process will be. Trump, however, has lauded the negotiations as a major
achievement and claimed on Tuesday that talks with North Korea were
going great and that he would soon have another summit with leader Kim
Jong Un.
President Donald Trump addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday in New York City. (John Moore via Getty Images)
Trump
may be looking for a similar deal with Iran. He has repeatedly promised
he will negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran that would be more effective
than an agreement engineered by former President Barack Obama and five other nations to lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country halting its nuclear program.
On Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
insisted that any negotiations would have to take place in the
multilateral context of the 2015 nuclear agreement and blamed the U.S.
for failing to uphold the deal.
“No state can be brought to the negotiating table by force,” Rouhani said in his U.N. speech Tuesday.
Trump’s strategy on Iran is fundamentally flawed,
lacks any coherent timeline and misunderstands Iranian domestic
politics, experts have warned. The U.S. decision to walk away from the
nuclear deal, for example, has already resulted in more hard-line
politicians in Iran’s government gaining ground, as Rouhani tacked to
the right to appease backlash over the agreement falling apart.
Europe’s
continued commitment to the nuclear deal has also widened the rift
between the U.S. and its allies, as leaders of France, Germany and the
United Kingdom have publicly criticized Trump for pulling out of the
deal. On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron
argued for an approach to world issues radically different from the one
Trump outlined ― calling for multilateralism and international
institutions to deal with problems.
“We
are pleased that the international community did not acquiesce to the
U.S.’s illegal and unilateral withdrawal from that agreement,” Rouhani
said.
But
despite European attempts to keep the deal together, companies across
the continent have begun to end their work in Iran out of fear of future
sanctions. The next round of U.S. sanctions will kick in in early November, adding to the animosity between Washington and Tehran.
Rouhani
implied in his speech that Iran would not follow the same course as
North Korea and made a veiled reference to the summit between Trump and
Kim being a “photo opportunity.”
Without
initially mentioning Trump, he condemned world leaders who gain popular
support using nationalism, racism and “xenophobic tendencies resembling
a Nazi disposition.” He further called U.S. opposition to Iran “doomed
to failure,” while claiming the White House is trying to destroy
international agreements and institutions.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran were already high after both countries accused each other of supporting terrorism after a militant attack Saturday at a military parade in Ahvaz, Iran, killed 25 people and wounded dozens more.
The
Iranian government vaguely accused Washington-backed governments in the
Middle East and their “U.S. masters” of supporting the militant group
that took credit for the attack. In response, Washington’s ambassador to
the United Nations, Nikki Haley, told Rouhani to “look in the mirror” instead of blaming the U.S. for terrorism.
0 Comments