Trump's Iran Policy Can not Succeed Without Allies

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Only well calibrated multilateral political, economic and diplomatic pressure brought to bear on Iran and many partners will produce the results we seek.

Trump's Iran Policy Can not Succeed Without Allies

"Then there were none" was Agatha Christie's most memorable mystery about a house party in which each guest was killed off by one. Donald Trump's policy toward Iran has resulted in the following: "It's a good idea to have a leadership role in U.S. leadership in curbing Iran, especially its nuclear program.

Dozens of states, painstakingly cultivated over decades of American leadership in blocking Iran's nuclear capability, are now simply gone. One of America's three remaining allies on these issues, Saudi Arabia, has become a central player in the Middle East region. But the Saudis, because of the Jamal Khashoggi killing and other reasons, may have cut itself out of the action. The United Arab Emirates, so close to the Saudis, may also fall away.

Such paucity of international support has left the Trump administration dangerously isolated. "America First" should not mean America alone. The United States risks losing the cooperation of the United States in the pursuit of the pursuit of other national security interests around the world, far beyond Iran.

Who does it? It is no mystery. The Trump administration's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement caused by the death of support for U.S. policy. That agreement had been negotiated with Iran by six major world powers and the European Union. It was fully endorsed by the UN Security Council and received from the UN's member states.

European allies share many of their concerns about Iran's regional activities, but they strongly oppose U.S. reinstitution of secondary sanctions against them. They see the Trump administration's new sanctions as a violation of the nuclear agreement and a Security Council resolutions and undermining efforts to influence Iranian behavior. The new sanctions and those applied on November 5 only.

The European and Asian Opposition to U.S. overreach is also stirring deeply-held concerns over the dominant role of the U.S. Treasury and the overwhelming power of the U.S. dollar plays over the world's economic system. For the first time, our European allies are actively working to circumvent the US Treasury, sanctions and dollar.

Moreover, Russia, China and others in the Western Alliance and the loss of American leadership.

Without international backing of the Iranian strategy, the Trump administration is deprived of the political and diplomatic partnership in East Middle East. The United States alone can not permanently prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon; block Iran's export of ballistic missiles; end Iran's support for Hezbollah threats. Covert or military action will help us achieve our objectives. Only well calibrated multilateral political, economic and diplomatic pressure brought to bear on Iran and many partners will produce the results we seek.

More urgently, the release of American citizens from Iran's prisons will only happen through direct, quiet U.S. diplomacy. This must be built on an understanding of the environment, not the heightened hostility of the administration's unilateral, extreme pressure.

There is no question that the administration's go-it-alone strategy has damaged Iran's economy and higher internal discord. But this is not an advantage of Iran's population, other states in the region and Iran's population, which is not advantageous to us. In the past, such an approach has more or less a reasonable, cooperative or cooperative government in Tehran-much less that will decide to return to the negotiating table with the United States.

The United States can not change the situation in the United States. And, drawing on strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States should be wary of launching or trying to spur a military invasion of Iran.