North Korea, Iran, Venezuela form Trump’s new ‘Axis of Evil’
President launches plenty of rhetoric but offers few solutions
President Trump offered his own list of rogue nations in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, updating the “Axis of Evil” coined by President George W. Bush in 2002.
Trump singled out North Korea, Iran and Venezuela as nations that disregard the rights of their own people and threaten the security of other countries. Bush’s Axis also listed North Korea and Iran, but he included Iraq, which the U.S. invaded in 2003 to remove dictator Saddam Hussein.
Trump did not advance any new policies for dealing with these nations, but he launched a lot of fiery rhetoric.
NORTH KOREA
“No nation in the world has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arm itself with nuclear weapons,” Trump said.
And while the United States is patient and willing to seek a diplomatic solution to halt North Korea’s nuclear development, if forced to defend itself or its allies, the United States will “totally destroy North Korea and its regime,” Trump told the delegates.
Referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has fired several ballistic missiles over Japan in recent weeks, Trump said: “Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime.”
Kim has defied U.N. sanctions and repeated threats of retaliation from Trump by firing ballistic missiles and testing his sixth — and most powerful — nuclear bomb to ad- vance his goal of developing a nuclear arsenal that can threaten the U.S. mainland. He says such a deterrent is needed so the U.S. military does not attack North Korea.
Trump has tried to pressure China and Russia to cut off trade and aid with limited success, and he has warned that a military option to halt North Korea’s threat remains viable. Given the potential for catastrophic war on the Korean Peninsula, the Trump administration is still looking for a diplomatic solution.
IRAN
“It’s also time for the world to take on another rogue regime,” whose leaders lead chants of “Death to America” and promise the destruction of Israel, Trump said. He warned that the U.S. will not abide by the Iran nuclear agreement that President Barack Obama reached in 2015 if it provides cover for an eventual nuclear weapons program.
Rather than use its large profits from oil exports to improve the lives of its people, Iran funds terrorist militias in the region to attack peaceful Arab neighbors and Israel, Trump said.
“Iran’s chief exports are bloodshed and chaos,” he said. “We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities.”
Trump called the Iran deal, which curbs Iran’s nuclear development for at least a decade, “one of the worst and one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into” and “an embarrassment to the United States.”
The Trump administration has certified every three months, as required by Congress, that Iran continues to abide by the deal, but it has warned that Iran’s testing of ballistic missiles and its support for terrorist groups threatens to blow it apart.
The deal offered Iran relief from international sanctions in return for limiting its nuclear program to peaceful activities and temporarily limiting its development of infrastructure for nuclear fuel production that could someday allow it to quickly and secretly produce enough fuel for bombs. In approving the accord, the U.N. Security Council also imposed limits on Iran’s ballistic missile tests, which Iran has rejected and continues to develop and test.
It is unclear what would happen if the U.S. pulls out of the deal. Iran has already received sanctions relief from the European Union, Russia and China, and is experiencing a moderate economic recovery. Limits on its nuclear development begin to lift in 2022 or 2023. U.S. sanctions remain in place for now but eventually would be lifted.
The other world powers that negotiated the deal — China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom — all have said they want to keep the deal intact.
VENEZUELA
Political turmoil and growing authoritarianism in Venezuela “is unacceptable, and we cannot stand by and watch,” Trump said. The U.S. goal is “to help them regain their freedom, recover their democracy and ... we are prepared to take further action if the Venezuelan government continues on its goal of imposing authoritarian rule.”
Venezuela’s socialist government has suppressed the country’s political opposition with force, arresting opposition leaders and clashing with demonstrators.
The high court, which Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has packed with supporters, has invalidated the elected parliament and laws that it passed. Recently, Maduro forced through a referendum the creation of a new national assembly stacked with supporters to bypass the current elected parliament, which is controlled by opposition parties. Independent observers said the referendum was rigged.
In months of protests, dozens of people have been killed and more than 5,000 detained, the U.N. says, and chaos has consumed a country that sits on one of the world’s largest oil reserves.
In August, Trump said he would not “rule out a military option” if Venezuela appeared ready to slide into dictatorship. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Venezuelan officials, but Latin American countries are split on how to respond.