WASHINGTON, July 29 -- As tensions run high between the United States and Iran, conflicting interests within the U.S. administration have greatly impacted U.S. policy toward the Middle Eastern country, experts said.
"There are conflicting goals in the Trump administration towards Iran," Wayne White, former deputy director of the Middle East Intelligence Office of the State Department, told Xinhua.
U.S. President Donald Trump ran in 2016 on staying out of foreign military conflicts such as Iraq, since after the brutal war in the country, there is little public appetite within the United States for any new military conflicts.
However, tensions have escalated between Washington and Tehran since Trump pulled the United States out of the 2017 Iran nuclear agreement, arguing that it was a "bad deal" that would not prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Recent weeks have seen a U.S. military buildup at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base. The move started last month, but Washington is expected to ramp it up in the weeks ahead as Tehran increases strikes on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and after Iran shot down a U.S. drone last month -- a claim that Tehran denies.
But Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the University of Maryland, believes that "the Department of Defense and the military will be extremely loath to get into an actual exchange of fire with Iran, because they understand that Iran's next step would not be predictable and so cannot really be prepared for."
"The U.S. itself will continue with three conflicting policies toward Iran, from the Defense Department, the NSC (National Security Council) plus the State Department, and the president," Ramsay told Xinhua.
Trump will send mixed signals on purpose, he said. "President Trump himself will produce rapid fluctuations -- sometimes sending conciliatory signals, sometimes insulting Iran -- because he believes this behavior is psychologically effective and weakens the adversary's resolve."
On Trump's team are hardliners such as U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, who is far less wary of armed conflict and is castigated by critics as having a thirst for war.
According to Axios, a U.S. news publication, White House insiders contend that Trump finds Bolton valuable because Trump believes having a hawk like Bolton on his team gives him stronger leverage against adversaries.
"Having Bolton on his team improves his bargaining position and gives him a psychological advantage over foes like Iran," Axios said.
Republican Strategist and TV news personality Ford O'Connell told Xinhua that Trump is well aware of the cost of going to war, particularly before the election.
But Trump nevertheless needs Bolton on his team as part of the policy calculation.
"Bolton chooses the most hawkish policy and everyone else in the administration picks a relatively dovish policy and Trump picks something in between," O'Connell said.
六级英语作文常用句型
2014年12月20日大学英语六级作文预测和仿写优秀范文(4)
2014年12月英语六级写作冲刺作文练习范文:整容手术
英语六级作文常用句型(下)
关于地震英语作文范文
最新2014年12月大学英语六级写作范文仿写练习(1)
英语写作3个基本点之统一性
Are you lazy
英语六级作文
2014年12月英语六级写作冲刺作文练习范文:大学生心理健康
2014年12月大学英语六级写作试题考前冲刺范文(四)
六级长难句结构分析最新经典
六级高分作文的写作模式及经典范文(二)
六级写作常用到的英语谚语500句(一)
How to Learn English Well
最新2014年12月大学英语六级写作范文仿写练习(5)
六级作文范文Traveling Abroad
英语作文必背重点句型
最新2014年12月大学英语六级写作范文仿写练习(4)
什么是真正的美
英语写作经典句子信手拈来
英语写作的绝招和万能公式
名师推荐:2014年12月英语四级写作高分模板(3)
2014年12月英语六级写作冲刺作文练习范文:话剧
六级高分作文的写作模式及经典范文(一)
英语作文的常用句型必备
名师推荐:2014年12月英语四级写作高分模板(4)
英语写作关键句型72种(6)
2014年12月20日大学英语六级作文预测和仿写优秀范文(1)
英语六级作文常用句型(上)
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |