Give Trump a chance

This time last year, when world leaders gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly, there was some foreboding about Donald Trump’s approach towards North Korea. After the country’s president Kim Jong-un responded to Mr Trump’s insulting description of him as a “Rocket Man on a suicide mission”, by labelling the American leader “mentally deranged”, there were genuine fears that the White House might follow through on its threat to destroy Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme by force. Instead, the opposite happened, with North Korea engaging with its southern neighbour and promising to scale down its nuclear ambitions.

All eyes will again be on Mr Trump this year. He is expected to focus on another of his bêtes noires, Iran, when he addresses the Security Council tomorrow. Mr Trump makes no secret of his dislike for the Iranian regime, and prompted a major rift with key European allies including Britain, Germany and France in May when he withdrew American support for the controversial nuclear deal with Tehran. Now Mr Trump intends to use his Security Council appearance to intensify pressure on Iran by accusing the country of supporting terrorism and lying about its nuclear ambitions, as well as highlighting its malign regional behaviour.

The president’s attitude is unlikely to impress the Council’s European members which, together with China and Russia, remain committed to saving the nuclear agreement. But before they reject Mr Trump’s policy out of hand, they should remember that, just as happened with North Korea, Mr Trump’s unconventional approach to international diplomacy might also pay dividends with Iran.