A Trump summit with last of ‘axis of evil’ looks unlikely
TEHRAN, Iran—Iraq helped fight Islamic State and became a strategic U.S. partner in the Middle East. North Korea, of course, has just refreshed relations with the U.S., or at least with President Donald Trump, after a high-profile handshake and vague talk of denuclearization.
That leaves Iran, the other member of the so-called axis of evil, a term then-President George W. Bush famously used in 2002 to describe inveterate adversaries of the United States.
The Singapore summit between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was short on substance and could amount to nothing, analysts say. Yet, in Tehran, Trump’s enthusiastic outreach to a rogue nation with a history of human rights and nonproliferation violations renewed accusations of U.S. hypocrisy.
Only weeks ago Trump withdrew from the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the U.S., Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia and began to reinstate harsh U.S. economic sanctions. Among the White House’s complaints were Tehran’s continued ballistic missile tests and support for Hezbollah and other anti-American militant groups.
As Trump remakes U.S. foreign policy, many wonder about the future of ties with Iran. Its 80 million people have been fed a steady diet of anti-Americanism since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but many Iranians blame the theocracy for pursuing reckless policies that have antagonized the United States and made life harder for ordinary people.
The U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement and the sanctions have further bruised Iran’s already shaky economy. Many in Tehran wrung their hands as they watched the North Korean flag share a stage with the Stars and Stripes, and read about Trump touting the so-called Hermit Kingdom’s tourism potential.
Fresh from his North Korean photo op, Trump told reporters that after the sanctions resume he would consider negotiating a “real deal” with Iran—“but right now it’s too soon to do that.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian currency’s slide against the dollar has led to soaring prices for consumer goods and diminishing value of government subsidies on which many Iranians depend to survive. Across Tehran, talk of economic mismanagement and widespread corruption is everywhere, in shared taxis and buses, on subways, in public parks and deserted shops.
“People in Iran are in their right mind to be talking about double standards,” said Alex Vatanka, an Iran expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “Why can North Korea pull out of the (nuclear nonproliferation treaty) and test nuclear reactors, whereas Iran, which signed on to the toughest nuclear inspections regime, has the rug pulled out from underneath its feet?”
Vatanka said the fundamental question about Iran’s relationship with the United States is whether the hardline clerical establishment that runs the Islamic Republic sincerely seeks a diplomatic rapprochement.