Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, returns to the show to discuss Donald Trump’s motivation to spurn the Iran deal. Parsi explains that the Iran Deal is in danger because of an inexplicable desire on Donald Trump’s part to destroy the deal, dating back to his campaign. Parsi speculates that, in addition to Trump’s opposition to Barack Obama, his hatred of the Iran Deal is the result of his seemingly new infatuation with the Saudi Arabians who have been vehemently opposed to the Iran Deal from its inception. Trump’s plan appears to be to make Iran’s life as difficult as possible such that Iran will ultimately break the deal. Making things worse, even some of the so-called adults in Trump’s administration believe that a limited conflict against Iran in Syria and elsewhere would convince Iran to back down. Parsi explains why history shows that a U.S. conflict with Iran is highly unlikely to achieve its goals. Finally, while Iran and the United States appear to have common cause in the Middle East, the ultimate question and tension between the two is who will be the dominant power in the Middle East? Parsi explains that the desire to be hegemon will ultimately prove to be the stumbling block.
Trita Parsi is the president of the National Iranian American Council and the author of “Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy.” Parsi is the recipient of the 2010 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Follow him on Twitter @tparsi.
Discussed on the show:
- “Gates: Saudis want to fight Iran to the last American” (ForeignPolicy.com)
- Rex Tillerson
- James Mattis
- H.R. McMaster
- Joseph Dunford
- Sebastian Gorka
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- Olli Heinonen
- Non-Proliferation Treaty
- “Monitoring and Verification in Iran” (IAEA.org)
- Gordon Prather (Antiwar.com)
- “How Bush Pushed North Korea to Nukes,” by Gordon Prather (Antiwar.com)
- “When the Ayatollah Said No to Nukes” (ForeignPolicy.com)
- George W. Bush Axis of Evil Speech (YouTube)
- “Trump lets Iran deal live, but signals he may not for long” (Seattle Times)
- Islamic Dawa Party
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