{"id":33243,"date":"2019-06-24T21:19:58","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T21:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/24\/op-ed-what-does-the-trump-administration-want-from-iran\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:34:20","slug":"op-ed-what-does-the-trump-administration-want-from-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/06\/24\/op-ed-what-does-the-trump-administration-want-from-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: What does the Trump administration want from Iran?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a sophisticated U.S. surveillance drone with a surface-to-air missile on June 20th. The U.S. and Iran disagree about whether the drone was in Iranian or international airspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, President Trump warned that American forces were \u201ccocked and loaded\u201d to strike three targets in Iran but that he had called off the strikes<\/a> ten minutes before they were launched. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident came after two oil tankers were attacked<\/a> on June 13 off the coast of Oman, forcing the crew members of one burning ship to flee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the latest in a series of assaults on tankers transporting oil through the Gulf. In May, Saudi, Norwegian and Emirati oil tankers were attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, causing damage but no casualties<\/a>. The attacks have gone unclaimed, so the perpetrator is unknown \u2013 at least publicly<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, Iran\u2019s regional rival, blamed the Iranian government and called the May attacks \u201cnaked aggression<\/a>.\u201d Saudi King Salman asked the international community to \u201cuse all means\u201d to punish Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, who has called for bombing Iran to cripple its nuclear program<\/a>, has maintained that Iran is \u201calmost certainly\u201d responsible for the attacks<\/a>. In May Bolton announced the deployment to the Persian Gulf of a carrier strike group and a nuclear-capable bomber task force, America\u2019s most formidable military assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose: \u201cto send a clear and unmistakable message<\/a>\u201d to Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo exits the plane at sunset as he arrives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Monday for meetings on Iran. (Jacquelyn Martin\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What does the U.S. want?<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the White House is squabbling over its objectives, which are far from clear<\/a>. Trump administration officials do not seem to agree whether the U.S. wants behavior change or regime change. Should the U.S. use diplomacy or force? Are frustrated Iranians or frustrated Americans the target of this military deployment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Trump told U.K. television host Piers Morgan that military options are on the table but, \u201cI\u2019d much rather talk<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, President Trump \u201cwants to sound tough (popular) so long as it doesn\u2019t get him into a war<\/a> (unpopular).\u201d President Trump \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to go to war with Iran<\/a>,\u201d retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus told ABC News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a scholar who has studied the onset of a number of wars<\/a>, I believe these commentators underestimate the influence of shrewd warmongers like Bolton. They also fail to credit how quickly a trivial confrontation between industrialized forces can change a leader\u2019s calculus and drag the great powers and their allies into war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The showdown in the Persian Gulf is not like the U.S. and the Soviet Union incrementally adjusting the balance of power, as they did during the Cold War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixed signals, bad timing and this kind of uncalibrated brinksmanship is how World War I began and spiraled out of control. It has brought the U.S. closer to the next Middle East war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An oil tanker burns on June 13 in the sea of Oman. (AP Photo\/ISNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Up to the edge<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran brokered a deal<\/a> with the U.S., the EU, Russia, China and Germany in 2015 to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current standoff began in May 2018 when President Trump<\/a> reneged on the deal and later implemented a new \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign against Iran, which included economic sanctions punishing countries purchasing Iranian oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.K., France, China, Russia and Germany pledged to abide by the terms of the deal<\/a>. Nevertheless, U.S. sanctions against Iranian industry at a time when Iran was complying with the deal are collapsing the Iranian economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House claims its \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d policy is working \u2013 that Iran is cutting aid to malevolent allies and proxies in the region, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hezbollah and Hamas<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo maintains, without evidence or a tangible timeline, that grueling economic conditions created by the U.S. will turn frustrated Iranians against their leaders, provoking regime change<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That idea seems to me to be magical thinking. U.S. belligerence, especially when it has been rejected by the broader international community \u2013 as it is now by parties to the 2015 nuclear deal \u2013 is more likely to turn Iranians against the U.S., polarize U.S. allies and strengthen Iran\u2019s hardliners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cosmopolitan Iranian youth, for example, who are the best hope for peace with the U.S., are the most likely group to turn against their government \u2013 but not if the Trump administration strangles their economy and threatens to invade<\/a> their country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marine Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, salutes sideboys as he departs the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln on June 8. The Nimitz-class carrier was sailing the Arabian Sea. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Matt Herbst\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Limited choices<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, Iran\u2019s economic troubles are narrowing its options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has accelerated uranium enrichment<\/a> and intends to quadruple production, in violation of the nuclear deal. Attacks on U.S. forces or allies, including Israel, are becoming increasingly appealing<\/a> to Iranian leaders to give Iran some leverage against the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prospect of economic collapse under draconian sanctions by the U.S. also provokes Iran\u2019s leaders to instigate a confrontation sooner rather than later, while its military and proxies are strong. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has given Germany, the U.K., France, China and Russia 60 days to honor their promise to buttress Iranian energy and banking sectors before taking additional steps to withdraw from the nuclear deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s economic and military weakness also encourages its leadership to cooperate more closely with America\u2019s foreign adversaries, including Russia, despite Iran\u2019s aversion to ceding precious influence in the region<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Iran-Russia relationship tightens, it will result in even greater tension with the U.S. Increased Iranian-Russian cooperation is also an invitation to U.S. leaders to strike before U.S. troops find themselves facing an emboldened Iranian military reinforced with Russian equipment and know-how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With each day of U.S. sanctions, Iran\u2019s leaders become increasingly desperate, with diminished leverage should the two countries face off on the battlefield or at the negotiating table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An F\/A-18E Super Hornet from the Fist of the Fleet, Strike Fighter Squadron 25, launches Saturday from the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was sailing the Arabian Sea. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dan Snow\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Defusing the tension<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With tensions rising, the U.S. has sent an additional 1,500 troops to the Middle East<\/a>. President Trump plans to send 1,000 more. Iran\u2019s 60-day ultimatum to parties to the nuclear deal expires in early July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, \u201cNegotiation has no benefit and carries harm<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran experts Colin Kahl and Jon Wolfsthal warn, \u201cBolton\u2019s preferences, not Trump\u2019s, are winning out<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is still time for President Trump to extract the U.S. from this dangerous standoff that he allowed to escalate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some hope lies in Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan, which is not party to the 2015 nuclear deal, is a major purchaser of Iranian oil and Abe is perceived to be a neutral broker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abe visited Iran last week \u2013 the first Japanese leader to do so in four decades \u2013 and met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Rouhani to discuss the standoff<\/a>. But it is unclear what Abe accomplished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A potential solution lies in intense, nuanced diplomacy where the U.S., building on the 2015 nuclear deal, trades sanction relief for slightly tougher limits on Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes<\/a> renegotiating the restrictions on Iran\u2019s centrifuges, mandatory international inspections, and its accumulation of nuclear material. A slightly modified nuclear deal like Trump\u2019s slightly modified trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, can be recast as victory by all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump emerges as peacemaker and potential contender for the Nobel Prize. Iran\u2019s leaders can then right their economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s winning outcome, however, is not the outcome Bolton has long advocated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, Bolton has publicly agitated for preventive strikes against Iraq, North Korea and Iran<\/a>. Only grudgingly, perhaps for fear of losing his job, has Bolton acquiesced to a policy of behavior change over regime change<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the price Bolton pays to remain the president\u2019s national security adviser \u2014 filterer of Trump\u2019s intelligence reports, first one in and last one out of the room whenever the president is discussing matters of war and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Abe fails, the current Iran crisis may yet become the culmination of Bolton\u2019s lifelong ambition. When new explosions rock the Persian Gulf, U.S. troops are injured or killed by Iranian proxies in Iraq, or Iranian-made drones pepper the Saudi skies, will President Trump resist the urge to escalate?<\/p>\n\n\n\t