Standoff with Iran exposes Trump's credibility issue

[struggle4progress]

By Carol Morello , Kareem Fahim and Simon Denyer
June 16 at 5:21 PM

... Last week’s tanker attacks have laid bare a credibility problem burdening the Trump administration ...

Japan and Germany have requested stronger evidence than the grainy video released by the Pentagon ...

... Many European allies believe the Trump administration started this cycle of escalation by pulling out of the nuclear deal with Iran last year ...

The Saudi and British governments agreed that the grainy U.S. video seemed to point to Iran, with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, calling on the international community to take a “decisive stance” ...

... demands for “credible” proof have been made by a senior European Union foreign policy adviser ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/saudi-crown-prince-blames-iran-for-tanker-attacks-as-tensions-soar/2019/06/16/7eeb43ca-900c-11e9-b162-8f6f41ec3c04_story.html?utm_term=.834077b1121f

With people like John Bolton and Mohammed bin Salman excited by the idea of a war with Iran, why isn't there more enthusiasm?

[struggle4progress]

1. Crew Of Norwegian-Owned Oil Tanker Arrives In Dubai

June 15, 20199:30 PM ET
DANIELLA CHESLOW

... Haleh Esfandiari, the founding director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, said the attacks were "a puzzle."

"It's difficult to accept the version we hear in the United States," said Esfandiari, who is now a public policy fellow.

She noted that the attack on the Japanese vessel would seem unlikely because it occurred as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Iran. But there were other possible reasons Iran might have launched the attacks, she said.

"There could be a rogue element among the Revolutionary Guards in Iran, who decided they would want to wreck every possible negotiation," she said ...

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/15/733084351/crew-of-norwegian-owned-oil-tanker-arrives-in-dubai-after-hostile-attack