Donald Trump’s reckless, incoherent Iran policy also throws into question the viability of the role of the United States as the global leader. The deeper strategic purpose was to bring Iran in from the cold, stabilise its relationship with the wider Middle East, and open it up as a market to international (principally European) capital. Their exporters’ and investors’ hopes of an Iranian opening are dashed, and the Middle East is more unstable than at any time since 2003. Far from being aberrational, Trump’s presidency fits with the Republican party’s long-term trajectory into unreasoning hawkish belligerence. • David Wearing is a specialist on UK foreign policy in the Middle East

Source: The Guardian June 19, 2019 09:01 UTC