"As talk of nuclear threats gives way to promises of help', the Bush-era logic of regime change re-emerges. On Saturday, just under two weeks into the protests that are now sweeping Iran, United States President Donald Trump took to his social media platform of choice to post a message of support: Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP."
"As usual, Trump's random capitalisation scheme and excessive use of exclamation points would better befit an elementary schoolchild than the leader of the global superpower. But the promise of American help is also problematic in far more significant ways. For starters, help is not exactly a specialty of the US and particularly not under the guidance of the man who bombed Iran just last summer, right after returning to power on a pledge to keep the US out of foreign wars."
"Trump is furthermore responsible for maintaining a crippling sanctions regime against the Islamic Republic, thereby fuelling the high inflation that triggered the present protests in the first place. As is par for the course in such forms of economic warfare, the nonelite of Iran have paid the highest price. In addition to constituting a departure from his whole America First premise, Trump's recent offer of help to the Iranians marks a shift in presidential rhetoric vis-a-vis the much-maligned country."
Donald Trump publicly pledged U.S. help to Iranian protesters amid widespread demonstrations. The pledge contrasts with prior Trump policies, including a bombing of Iran and a sanctions regime that intensified inflation and economic pain. The sanctions disproportionately harmed Iran's nonelite and helped trigger the protests. The rhetorical shift moves from framing Iran as a nuclear and missile threat to promising rescue for peaceful protesters. The change departs from an America First posture and raises questions of credibility given past actions that exacerbated Iran's economic crisis and strained diplomatic consistency.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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