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Trump’s Foreign Policy Legacy Will Be a Nuclear Iran
This week has destroyed any trust Iran had in the global order
Contrary to petty retorts from Republicans, critics of the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani ought not concern themselves with the irrelevant question of whether Soleimani was a decent person (he was not). Similarly, this is not a debate over whether Iran is a helpful or productive player in global affairs (it is not).
The real question is whether the United States, courtesy of its overwhelming military force, has the princely freedom to murder anyone of their choosing the world over — playing judge, jury and executioner, all with one drone strike, in breach of a long and toothless list of domestic and international laws.
And given that the answer to the preceding question would appear to be a depressing yes, with American allies queuing up to (seemingly unironically) warn Iran to “refrain from further violence and provocations”, it is worth considering the precarious situation Iran finds itself in. If the world’s strongest laws and norms against the use of force have zero effect on America — whose president is threatening further strikes against 52 cultural sites in the country — it’s not clear where else Iran can turn.
