President Trump said he expects the United States to make a deal with Iran should he win reelection.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, the president touted the historic normalization treaties with Israel being signed by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. He said that his administration hopes to bring more peace to the region and that his reelection was critical to that mission.
Trump said that after the election, within a very short period of time, maybe a week or a month, “You’ll have Iran coming back and saying, ‘Let’s get this whole thing worked out,’” he predicted. “Iran is suffering. … I don’t want them to suffer. Their economy has tanked.”
The president said that he thinks Iran, led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wants to make a deal but that they are waiting to see who wins in November and would prefer to negotiate with Trump’s Democratic competitor Joe Biden.
“We’ll see what happens with Iran. I think Iran will end up being a part of a very large and very, very difficult part of the world,” he said. “If we win, we’ll have a deal with Iran. I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran.”
Trump’s assertion that Tehran would prefer a Biden presidency is a common refrain for him. The claim is partially backed up by an August statement released by National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director Bill Evanina.
Evanina wrote that the intelligence community’s assessment was that Iran will likely try to “undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump,” and divide the country in the lead-up to the November election. He said that Iran’s motivation “is in part driven by a perception that President Trump’s reelection would result in a continuation of U.S. pressure on Iran in an effort to foment regime change.”
Trump’s remarks about the prospect of a deal with Iran comes two days after Politico reported that U.S. intelligence officials warned Lana Marks, the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, that she may be targeted by Iranian operatives in an assassination plot as revenge for the death of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani, a major figure in Iran, was killed by the U.S. in a January drone strike. Analysts have warned that Iran may attempt to pull off some sort of revenge attack prior to November in an effort to sway the 2020 election.
The president threatened Iran on Twitter Monday night following the report about Marks.
“According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani, which was carried out for his planning a future attack, murdering U.S. Troops, and the death & suffering caused over so many years. Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!” Trump tweeted.
…caused over so many years. Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2020
Iran has suffered tremendous economic degradation as the result of U.S. sanctions in recent years. In 2018, Trump pulled the U.S. out from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Known as the Iran nuclear deal, the 2015 agreement was signed by Iran, the U.S., Germany, France, Britain, China, and Russia.
Following U.S. withdrawal, a “maximum pressure” campaign was launched by the Trump administration in an effort to squeeze the Iranian regime into submission. Iran has responded by continuing to antagonize U.S. interests in the region through its use of proxy militias in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. It has also violated all of the strictures of the nuclear deal, including enriching and stockpiling uranium.
The push for peace in the Middle East comes after the UAE agreed to become the third Arab nation to ink a treaty with Israel, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Bahrain followed suit, and there is an expectation from the president that other Arab countries will also join in the coming weeks and months. Delegations from Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain were at the White House on Tuesday for a signing ceremony.
