Every time US President Donald Trump takes to social media it seems he sets back efforts to solve the Iran crisis to some degree. He has called the Iranian regime “scum” and threatened to “blow them away” as he vents his frustration over the ongoing conflict. And apart from satisfying some infantile addiction to insulting whatever or whoever stands in the way of his success it gains nothing and loses something.
A sentence used by Iran recently has been lost in the rhetoric but it perfectly exposes a really important element of negotiations that is desperately lost on Trump. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said: “Until America corrects its behaviour, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened. Never threaten Iran with any language nor insult the sanctities of this nation.” Diplomacy is about persuasion, subtlety, nuance, dignity and making marginal gains- and crucially, saving face at home and on the global stage. He achieves none of this and every time he fires off another insult he winds up Tehran and they entrench further, ever more determined to humiliate him.
View 3 Images
New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei(Image: KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty Images)
