The Iran-US tango in Yemen

Donald Trump is a busy man. Having cast himself as the beau of the ball - his dance card is now well and truly full. This brings with it a slightly new spin on that old conundrum: so many conquests to be had and so little time.

To be sure, the showman president may well be flattered by the attention that the North Korean Rocket Man afforded him on the world stage. Then there is Pakistan, a forever reliable nation when it comes to allowing American presidents try on for size the mantle of lone-ranger-caped-crusader. That is, until we simply go back to doing what we were doing all along.

Yet the real object of President Trump's disaffection is Iran. And he is ready to trample on anyone and any multilateral institution to get his nemesis to notice him. He has tried everything. From accusing Tehran of not playing by the nuclear rulebook, despite assertions to the contrary by the IAEA; to labelling it a state sponsor of terrorism; to saying nothing as Saudi Arabia threatened members of the of the 47-strong UN Human Rights Council with diplomatic repercussions as well as scaling down of petro-dollar trade opportunities if they voted for a resolution seeking to establish an International Commission of Inquiry to probe the US-backed and Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council for war crimes in Yemen. Thus has Riyadh been happily 'co-opted', by quiet US backing plus a not so quiet multi-billion dollar arms deal, to increase its muscle flexing for Iranian benefit.

Yet Tehran may prove to be smarter than the average bear. And it could well end up playing Washington at its own game. Meaning that once the Saudis threw down the Yemeni gauntlet the Iranians picked it up and ran with it - all the better to keep the House of Saud, along with the Americans, bogged down in one of the world's poorest nations.The Israelis feel that Trump is so bogged down in Sana'a that he has lost sight of the additional goal of actively removing Iran from Damascus. Thus the fear is that Tehran may just be using the crisis to quietly strengthen its Syrian hand to threaten the Jewish state with cross-border infiltration. Initially, at least, conducting a proxy war in Yemen likely appealed to Trump. After all, decimating an already poverty stricken nation renders null and void all notions of collateral damage. A situation that the UN itself exacerbated when it removed the GCC from a blacklist of nations and armed groups that maim and kill children in times of war.

The writer is a senior Pakistani journalist

 

The Iran-US tango in Yemen

Donald Trump is a busy man. Having cast himself as the beau of the ball - his dance card is now well and truly full. This brings with it a slightly new spin on that old conundrum: so many conquests to be had and so little time. To be sure, the showman president may well be flattered by the attention that the North Korean Rocket Man afforded him on the world stage. Then there is Pakistan, a forever reliable nation when it comes to allowing American presidents try on for size the mantle of lone-ranger-caped-crusader. That is, until we simply go back to doing what we were doing all along. Yet the real object of President Trumps disaffection is Iran. And he is ready to trample on anyone and any multilateral institution to get his nemesis to notice him. He has tried everything. From accusing Tehran of not playing by the nuclear rulebook, despite assertions to the contrary by the IAEA; to labelling it a state sponsor of terrorism; to saying nothing as Saudi Arabia threatened members of the of the 47-strong UN Human Rights Council with diplomatic repercussions as well as scaling down of petro-dollar trade opportunities if they voted for a resolution seeking to establish an International Commission of Inquiry to probe the US-backed and Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council for war crimes in Yemen. Thus has Riyadh been happily co-opted, by quiet US backing plus a not so quiet multi-billion dollar arms deal, to increase its muscle flexing for Iranian benefit. Yet Tehran may prove to be smarter than the average bear. And it could well end up playing Washington at its own game. Meaning that once the Saudis threw down the Yemeni gauntlet the Iranians picked it up and ran with it - all the better to keep the House of Saud, along with the Americans, bogged down in one of the worlds poorest nations.The Israelis feel that Trump is so bogged down in Sanaa that he has lost sight of the additional goal of actively removing Iran from Damascus. Thus the fear is that Tehran may just be using the crisis to quietly strengthen its Syrian hand to threaten the Jewish state with cross-border infiltration. Initially, at least, conducting a proxy war in Yemen likely appealed to Trump. After all, decimating an already poverty stricken nation renders null and void all notions of collateral damage. A situation that the UN itself exacerbated when it removed the GCC from a blacklist of nations and armed groups that maim and kill children in times of war. The writer is a senior Pakistani journalist