In Mideast, Trump pushes shared worries over Iran

accord it spawned — did little to endear Obama to leaders in Saudi Arabia or Israel. Trump appeared to have learned that lesson. On Monday, he was greeted with lavish praise from Netanyahu. “I want you to know how much we appreciate the change in American policy on Iran,” the prime minister said.

Yet Trump has yet to bring about the kind of change to America’s Iran policy that he promised as a candidate, when he declared that Obama’s nuclear agreement was “the worst deal ever negotiated.” He repeatedly promised that if elected, he would withdraw or renegotiate the deal. Four months into Trump’s tenure, the nuclear deal is intact. The State Department has informed Congress that Iran is complying with the accord. And last week, the Trump administration extended all of the sanctions relief Iran received as part of the deal.

Trump has taken a hard line on Iran’s ballistic missile program, as Washington fears it could target US interests in the Middle East. On the same day he extended sanctions relief under the nuclear accord, he levied new penalties for the missile program. In Saudi Arabia and Israel, leaders appeared wholly unconcerned by Trump’s continuation of the nuclear deal, apparently confident that his tough talk will ultimately be backed up with action.

The tensions with Iran that Trump is tapping into on his first foray abroad run deep. Gulf Arab countries have long been suspicious about Iran, from the UAE’s long-running dispute over Tehran seizing several Arabian Gulf islands in 1971, to Bahrain’s simmering anger over a 1981 coup attempt it blamed on the newly formed Islamic Republic. The Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations further fueled Gulf nations’ worries about Iran’s regional intentions, especially as it backs Shiite militias fighting Daesh in Iraq and supports the government of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Israel, meanwhile, has long been alarmed by Iran’s calls for its destruction, its development of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel, and its pursuit of a nuclear program. Netanyahu was among the fiercest critics of the nuclear deal, arguing that it would not prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability and ignored Tehran’s other provocative behavior. Julie Pace is the White House correspondent for The Associated Press.