Stephen M. Walt
The Trump administration's top foreign-policy priority is the Islamic Republic—but it's unclear to what end.
What is the Trump administration's objective with Iran? We've all been watching its efforts for months now—including National Security Advisor John Bolton's announcement on Sunday that the United States had sent an aircraft carrier to the Middle East in response to "a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings" from Tehran—and I still can't figure out what it is trying to achieve. That's partly because President Donald Trump prizes being unpredictable, and his chaotically run administration is either unable or unwilling to provide clear and coherent justifications for many of its policy decisions. If you never tell anyone exactly what you’re trying to do, it's harder for outsiders to hold you accountable later.
We are forced, therefore, to divine the administration's objectives for ourselves. Here's my best guess at some of the possibilities....
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