TRUMP PULLS OUT OF IRANIAN AGREEMENT ... PROVING, ONCE AND FOR ALL, HE'S AN IDIOT

The former Shah of Iran was brought to power by the U.S. in 1953. The Shah would set back Iranian development by decades, and helped set the table for radical clerics to come to power in the Middle East. 

______________________________

History doesn't just repeat itself with Donald Trump. It thunders and echoes with stupidity. By announcing that the United States would withdraw from a 2015 nuclear agreement signed by the United States and Iran - and China, France, Germany, the British and Russia - Donald Trump is continuing a long string of diplomatic and strategic blunders carried out by the United States against Iran that began in 1953.

The clip below provides a concise and accurate overview of U.S.-Iran relations since the Eisenhower administration overthrew the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh (1882-1967). The clip also helps put into context how short-sighted and reckless Donald Trump's decision is today.

___________________________

In the FYI category, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified, at least 10 times, that Iran has complied with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Trump's own State Department, when it was led by Rex Tillerson, also found Iran was holding its end of the nuclear verificattion bargain.

__________________________________________

I've been teaching about U.S.-Iranian relations in my American Foreign Policy and International Relations courses for the past two decades. One of the best books you can get to help understand where American missteps with Iran began includes "All the Shah's Men."

There's more, but I want to make it clear: this is a major blunder on the part of Donald Trump. It goes beyond "bigly." Seriously, it proves once and for all that Donald Trump doesn't know what the hell he's doing and that, quite frankly, he's an idiot.

Sigh ...

- Mark