Islam Times - War with Iran is not what Trump wants

Islam Times - War with Iran is not what US President Donald Trump wants, says an American author and political analyst in Virginia.

Keith Preston said Trump was not in favor of war with Iran.

The author of Attack the System said despite his bellicose language, Trump, who is a businessman, is against war with Iran. "The instincts that I have is that Trump really does not want to have a war with Iran."

"But I think that he is also basing his opinion on a lot of false information that has been fed to him by various sources within the intelligence services, within his own administration," he added.

"Something similar happened to President George W. Bush back in the early 2000 where George W. Bush also had limited knowledge or experience with foreign policy issues and international relations, and was simply led to war in Iraq by the people in his administration by Donald Rumsfeld, the former secretary of defense, and by Dick Cheney, the former vice president, " he stated.

Preston also said that "Trump has zero experience when it comes to foreign policy."

The hawkish elements in his administration, US National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, were the ones running US foreign policy and influencing Trump by feeding him false information, particularly in regard to Iran, according to Preston.

The question is will Trump be able to resist their influence, or will he fall prey to their anti-Iran plans, he noted.

According to a recent report, Trump’s hawkish aides, Bolton and Pompeo, got him into trouble over Iran with America’s European partners in NATO, as well as the US military leadership.

Reports said Trump’s latest invitation for unconditional talks with Iran showed he was desperately looking for a “face saving” way out of the current political crisis.

The Washington Post reported in mid-May that Trump was opposed to Bolton and Pompeo's extreme anti-Iran policy matched with threats of military conflict, insisting he preferred a diplomatic solution instead of war.

The Post cited a senior Trump administration official as saying the President was weary about what he saw as his aides military plans interfering with his negotiation tactics.

Pompeo, a former CIA director, believes that threatening Iran militarily would convince Tehran to back down, while Bolton has been a strong supporter of “regime change” in Iran.