Iran war has cost Washington leverage, Gulf trust, and any path to a quick end: Analysis
Alan Eyre, a former senior US diplomat who helped negotiate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, joins Al Jazeera from Washington, DC, to assess the fallout
Alan Eyre, a former senior US diplomat who helped negotiate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, joins Al Jazeera from Washington, DC, to assess the fallout from the US war with Iran. He says it has seriously damaged US soft power in the Gulf, pushing GCC states toward strategic hedging since Trump pursued the campaign unilaterally, turning "America First" into "America Alone." Eyre says Washington has lost leverage on two fronts: having already used its military "stick" without forcing Iranian capitulation, and because Tehran no longer believes complying with US demands would ease pressure, seeing the real goal as regime change.
Domestically, he says an unpopular war matters less to Trump than to a nervous Republican Party ahead of the midterms, with Trump focused on avoiding the appearance of a strategic blunder despite false claims that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon and that the Strait of Hormuz is open.
Asked whether this is heading toward a deal, Eyre predicts further escalation instead, saying the US appears unwilling to pursue sustained diplomacy with Iran. Find
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