Trump Accidentally Described US Foreign Policy While Trying to Slam Iran
(ANTIMEDIA Op-ed) — U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States is officially walking away from the 2015 Iranian nuclear accord, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
As Anti-Media has already outlined, it appears that right from the get-go, it was the United States that implemented this agreement in bad faith — not Iran. To put it bluntly, the United States is the only party that has violated its terms. In light of this harsh truth, is it Iran or the United States that poses a threat to global stability?
In taking this drastic step, the United States has certainly demonstrated its schizophrenic approach to global affairs and effectively shown its true colors to the world. According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, sanctions will be re-imposed on Iran to punish Iran for the following:
- Iran’s status as the world’s largest state sponsor of terror;
- Its use of ballistic missiles against American allies;
- Its support for the brutal Assad regime in Syria;
- Its human rights violations against its own people;
- Its abuses of the international financial system.
The first of these claims is completely untrue. Iran spends very little on military-related affairs compared to the United States and its regional allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Saudi Arabia has openly confirmed it spread the ideology of Wahhabism — the same sect of Islam as ISIS — across the world at the behest of its Western allies. The U.S. actively supported the precursor to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan with Saudi assistance in order to confront the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The U.S. continues a similar policy of supporting Sunni jihadists even to this day.
Iran has no such history. Iran’s proxies, like Hezbollah, are in the business of fighting ISIS. In fact, they are the most heavily engaged entities fighting against ISIS on the ground in Syria. Not once have we seen a report that says ISIS has been found to be carrying Iranian weapons. In contrast, reports that show ISIS have managed to obtain American weapons are numerous.
The second claim above is also ludicrously unprovable. We can only document Iran using missiles on one occasion in recent history: during a strike that took place in Syria pursuant to its defense pact arrangements with the Syrian government in response to an ISIS-inspired attack that took place on Iranian soil. Unless Syria is an ally of the U.S. government, this claim against Iran attacking U.S. allies is also completely false. That being said, the idea that the Iranian missiles took out U.S. allies on the ground, which were actually ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliated organizations, is actually somewhat believable.
But what about Yemen? Iran is supplying missiles to the so-called Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack Saudi Arabia, right? This has not even been remotely proven outside of a grandiose propaganda performance from U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. Compared to Saudi Arabia and the United States, the Iranian war machine is relatively restrained.
In fact, it is the United States that uses sophisticated missiles on Iranian allies without any discernible legal basis and is also heavily bombing almost all of the countries surrounding Iran at any given time.
Iranian support for the “brutal Assad regime in Syria” would hold water if the U.S. didn’t openly support some of the worst dictatorships in the world, including Saudi Arabia. How many people reading this article are aware that the Indonesian military – a longtime U.S. ally – just openly shot down a parishioner standing on the front porch of his church in Papua? Is the Indonesian military under scrutiny for its crackdown over Papua?
While the Iranian government is certainly repressive — and also the result of U.S. meddling in the country’s domestic affairs — factions of the U.S. government, too, have committed human rights abuses against their own people, as well as civilians around the world.
The list goes on and on. To those of us who aren’t swamped in MAGA propaganda, it sounds a lot like the United States is criticizing itself more than it is criticizing Iran, which despite its flaws, has actually abided by the terms of the JCPOA in good faith, as confirmed by Trump’s own State Department and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
Iran isn’t the unstable threat to international security. In fact, the evidence suggests it is the United States that really deserves that title. If the United States were genuine in its bid to deter illegal aggression and protect human rights, it would impose sanctions on itself, invading and bombing its own government back into the Stone Age.
But let’s not get too hopeful.
Op-ed / Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo