Trump can’t be pals with Putin and stand up to Iran

President-elect Donald Trump during the campaign was clear on at least two foreign policy issues: his opposition to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (a.k.a. the Iran deal) and his desire to get along with Russia. We will not know how serious he was about the latter until he takes office. Likewise, we do not know how he plans to disable the JCPOA. Sooner or later, however, he will need to confront an unpleasant reality: Russia and Iran are allies, and both want to displace the United States as the primary force in the Middle East. Put differently, if we want to turn the screws on Iran, Russia will not want to “get along” with us.

Russia is a major supplier of arms to Iran and supports its efforts to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This summer Russian warplanes took off from Iranian bases to strike targets in Syria.

Russia has publicly warned against violating the JCPOA; Trump wants to rip it up. If the JCPOA fell by the wayside, Russia in all likelihood would increase its economic and military support for Iran, attempting to heighten tension between the United States and its European allies, and portray the U.S. policy as a failure. 

Read the full article at The Washington Post.