After North Korea, the US wants to put maximum pressure on Iran
(Baonghean.vn) - A year after convincing the international community to "turn its back" on North Korea, US President Donald Trump is trying to force another enemy to the negotiating table, Iran, with a similar "maximum pressure" campaign.
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| US President Donald Trump. Photo: AP |
But if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has seen his standing with the US president shift in the 12 months since Mr Trump’s first speech to the UN, the same prospect for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani remains remote.
The Trump administration believes tough talk, coupled with a massive sanctions program, has forced North Korea to change course, although skepticism remains about how many concrete steps Pyongyang has actually taken toward ending its nuclear program, according to a senior European diplomat.
The Trump administration plans to “do the same thing with Iran: strike hard and then negotiate from a position of strength,” the diplomat said.
Agreeing, Behnam Ben Taleblu, an expert from the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, an organization known for its hardline stance on the Pyongyang and Tehran governments, said there were clear similarities.
“I believe that a strategy of ‘maximum pressure’ on both the Pyongyang and Tehran regimes is wise and warranted, but it will also be difficult to implement,” the expert said.
Although both administrations have been criticized for trying to develop nuclear weapons, Washington's complaints about Iran have been more strident, encouraged by Sunni Arab allies who have a history of hostility to the Shi'ite Muslim majority government in Tehran./.
