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Trump Wants to Push Back Against Iran, But Iran Is Now More Powerful
(Washington Post) Liz Sly and Loveday Morris - With its warning last week that Iran is "on notice," the Trump administration signaled a sharp departure from the policies of President Obama, whose focus on pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran eclipsed historic U.S. concerns about Iranian expansionism. Except that now the U.S. will be facing down a far stronger Iran, which has developed missiles capable of hitting U.S. bases and allies across the Middle East and commands the loyalties of tens of thousands in allied militias and proxy armies that are fighting in Syria, Iraq and Yemen with armored vehicles, tanks and heavy weapons. As the Institute for the Study of War noted in a report last week, Iran has developed the capacity to project conventional military force for hundreds of miles beyond its borders. Any misgivings America's Sunni Arab allies may have had about Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric have been dwarfed by their enthusiasm for an American president they believe will push back against Iran.