Iran

“An act of diplomatic vandalism”

Written by SK Ashby

We or at least I believe that Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal simply because the deal was negotiated by the Obama administration, but at least some foreign diplomats evidently believe the same thing.

Although U.K. Ambassador Kim Darroch has now resigned, more memos from the ambassador's office have been leaked to the press and they show that some foreign diplomats have a refreshingly-shrewd assessment of Trump's motivations.

In the May 2018 cable published by the Mail on Sunday, U.K. Ambassador Kim Darroch called Trump's decision to abandon the international accord "an act of diplomatic vandalism, seemingly for ideological and personality reasons" because the pact "was Obama's deal." [...]

He alleged the White House had no strategy for what would come after its withdrawal and "no sort of plan for reaching out to partners and allies."

President Obama's deal with Iran was such a good deal, Iran continued to comply with the terms of the deal even after Trump withdrew from it. But that doesn't matter to Trump. The details never mattered.

As far as Trump is concerned, President Obama never could have negotiated a good deal because President Obama is black.

The fact that President Obama is black is all Trump ever needed to know to decide that it was a bad deal. The same could be said for many of the Obama-era policies Trump has tried to overturn. Trump cannot explain any of these policies or even how he would repeal and replace them; he can only point toward who created them.

I feel like the world might actually be a better place if foreign governments shared these feelings publicly instead of honoring traditions of comity that Trump clearly doesn't give a single shit about.

I can only imagine what foreign diplomats are saying about Trump's downright cozy relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in comparison to his treatment of Iran; a nation that actually adhered to the terms of a nuclear peace deal even after Trump blew it up. If their assessments are anything like that of the British ambassador's, they must be very colorful.