Welcome to 2020. Less than a week in and Trump’s myopic foreign policy approach to the Middle East has once again reared its ugly head. On the 3rd of January, Iran’s most powerful military commander and mastermind of Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force, Gen Qasim Soleimani, was assassinated in a US airstrike in Iraq. In the strike, ordered by US President Donald Trump, Soleimani was killed in Baghdad airport, along with other Iran-backed militia figures.

Trump tweeted that Soleimani “has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more.” Amid attempts in Washington to justify the strike, Trump has said that Soleimani has planned to bomb four U.S. embassies, however, little evidence has been provided by the Administration to support this. With an alarming lack of foresight, the decision to kill Soleimani – in what is considered by many to be an unconstitutional act of war – could now place a number of US troops in danger. The decision marks a major escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran and is indicative of Washington’s inability to formulate a coherent and effective policy toward important global affairs.

Trump’s decision has already had sweeping consequences.

Trump’s decision has already had sweeping consequences

For regional military balance, America’s position now lies in a precarious position. Seventeen years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi parliament, in response to Washington’s violation of national sovereignty voted to oust 5,000 U.S. troops. The US-led campaign against ISIS, which still maintains 14,000 troops in Iraq and Syria was suspended. Whilst on January 5th, two days after the assassination, Iran has declared that it will no longer limit the number of centrifuges for enriching uranium. Any increased stability and improved relations under Obama’s nuclear deal, which Trump abandoned in May 2018, have now well and truly unravelled.

Trump’s foreign policy doesn’t require thorough analysis to identify inconsistencies – for the most part, they are blindingly obvious. The only constant being a seemingly fervent hunger to dismantle the legacy of former president Barack Obama. Ironically, Trump, who has regularly accused Obama of having attempted to engage in conflict with Iran to aid his re-election, has begun the election year 2020 – which up until now has been debilitated by impeachment efforts – by conducting airstrikes in Iraq in an attempt to appear as a war hero.

Primarily, the president has consistently failed to resolve the inherent contradiction within his Iran policy.

He continues to partake in erratic decision making that…has increased the tensions and risks surrounding existing conflicts between the U.S. and Iran

He aims to exert a strategy of “maximum pressure” on the regime whilst extracting the United States from the region. The president has consistently criticised Middle East wars, admittedly for legitimate reason, however, he continues to partake in erratic decision making that, at least in the short term, has increased the tensions and risks surrounding existing conflicts between the U.S. and Iran. Just as last October Trumps seemingly unanticipated withdrawal of troops from northern Syria left thousands of Syrian Kurds fleeing a Turkish assault, Trump’s decision to assassinate Soleimani had the potential to push the region, once again, to the brink of war with dire consequences. For a president elected on the mandate of ending the so-called “endless” wars in the Middle East, Trump is playing a dangerous game.