It will take patience and deft diplomacy by the Trump administration to resist Iranian and North Korean efforts to put pressure on the U.S., says Michael Singh, former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council.
Tensions escalated in the Middle East on Friday as Iran warned it could easily destroy a naval fleet sent by the United States in order to ward off a potential threat to the nation’s commercial interests.
“Their billion[-dollar] fleet can be destroyed with one missile,” Ayatollah Tabatabai-Nejad said, Reuters reported.
“If they attempt any move, they will … [face] dozens of missiles because at that time [government] officials won’t be in charge to act cautiously, but instead things will be in the hands of our beloved leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he warned.
The heated rhetoric has capped a multiyear standoff over the rogue nation’s nuclear program. President Trump’s administration angered the regime when he withdrew from an Obama-era nuclear deal granting Iran sanctions relief in exchange for limited monitoring accommodations.
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