Islam Times - Trump fails to build ‘the coalition of the willing’ against Iran

Islam Times - US President Donald Trump has failed to build the so-called coalition of the willing against the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to American writer and political commentator Stephen Lendman.

On Thursday, Trump chastised French President Emmanuel Macron for sending Iran "mixed signals".

Trump scolded Macron on Thursday telling him that no one was authorized to act in the role of mediator between the US and Iran.

"I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself," Trump said in a tweet.

Lendman said, “The Trump people mainly Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, the national security adviser, for the past two or three months have been trying to enlist other countries to join a so-called US coalition of the willing in the Persian Gulf against Iran.”

“They have not done very well in enlisting partners for this initiative. It’s really a coalition of the one so far for, the US, with the minimal help from Britain. Britain will have two of its warships involved in the Persian Gulf, but they probably would have to be there anyway with the US coalition or otherwise not because they want to be belligerent against Iran. Israel will also be involved but not by sending vassals to the Persian Gulf but providing intelligence, which it would provide anyway,” he told Press TV in an interview on Friday.

“So it’s really a coalition of the US with minimal help from Britain. So it is basically a coalition of one,” he noted.

“This is not going the way US wanted it to go. It is very embarrassing for the Trump people. I mean the US has the way of bullying and pressuring and bribing and threatening other countries to bend to its will,” he said.

“Trump and Pompeo have been visiting other countries for several months trying to get them to join this coalition but they really want no part of it because they don’t want to be belligerent with Iran. Iran doesn’t threaten these countries. Iran doesn’t threaten any countries. So they don’t want to be part of this thing,” he noted.