To whom it may concern: Stop Iran!

“We will strengthen our old alliances and create new ones.” These were the words of US President Donald Trump on 20 January of last year at his inauguration ceremony.

This main principle of Trump’s foreign policy is key to his current policy in the Middle East, as reflected in his tough stance against the rise of Iranian influence in the region along withhis pressure on European countries to review the nuclear deal, whose adverse consequences Trump never fails to adumbrate.

Last Monday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that the United States plans to send a diplomatic team to Europe for discussing, “how we can cooperate more on countering Iranian activities that have nothing to do with the nuclear program,” such as “Iran’s arms exports to Yemen and elsewhere.”

In this context, US researcher Jay Solomon wrote an article for the MBN network, in which he highlighted extensive US pressure on Iran-affiliated countries in the region.

He also talks about the increasing logistical and intelligence support provided by the United States to Saudi Arabia and the Arab alliance in Yemen, in comparison to the negative, cold, sluggish or conspiratorial attitude of the ‘great genius’ Barack Obama!

On the other hand, every day we become aware of more information about the extent of Iranian influence. Reuters said that ‘The Washington Free Beacon’ website revealed another “secret” agreement reached by the Obama administration with Iran, hindering the imposition of sanctions on the “Iranian radio and television” accused of human rights violations.

Then of course we have the scandalous Cassandra deal. The Obama administration allegedly stopped the investigation into the largest drug trafficking network and money laundering for Hezbollah in the United States and Latin America for the sake of its sacred agreement with Iran.

Those who hobnobbed with Iran under the leadership of Obama should clearly define their position today, be they in Europe or Arab countries.

The new US message as Trump enunciated it must be understood, “We will strengthen our old alliances and create new ones.”

This article is also available in Arabic.
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Saudi journalist Mashari Althaydi presents Al Arabiya News Channel’s “views on the news” daily show “Maraya.” He has previously held the position of a managing senior editor for Saudi Arabia & Gulf region at pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Althaydi has published several papers on political Islam and social history of Saudi Arabia. He appears as a guest on several radio and television programs to discuss the ideologies of extremist groups and terrorists. He tweets under @MAlthaydy.