Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 24
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
The US President Donald Trump may step up pressure on Iran through introducing fresh sanctions but he is neither after waging war against Iran nor escalating US involvement in Syria or Iraq, an Atlantic Council official suggested.
“Trump has just grudgingly agreed to keep troops in Afghanistan. I do not see him escalating US involvement in Syria or Iraq or risking a war with Iran,” Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, told Trend.
Earlier this week President Trump ruled out the possibility of withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan saying a hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan would leave a vacuum for terrorists to fill.
Elaborating on the impact of the recent developments within the Trump administration on the US foreign policy, Slavin pointed out that recently exited Steve Bannon was more influential in the domestic policy.
Nonetheless, “the ‘generals’ around Trump have been and will continue to be more influential and they are likely to continue the status quo” when it comes to the foreign policy in particular, Iran and Russia, she said.
Described as Trump’s chief strategist – Steve Bannon was the latest, among the other top aides, who left their posts at the White House and this was received by many as an indication of a possible change in the US foreign policy, in particular, regarding its stances with Iran and Russia.
Speaking about Trump’s policy towards Iran, Barbara Slavin elsewhere forecasted that Trump may introduce more non-nuclear sanctions on Tehran.
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