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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Owen Jones

Trump thinks brute force will arrest the US’s decline. His heavy-handed actions in Iran are only accelerating it

Donald Trump in the White House earlier this week.
Donald Trump in the White House earlier this week. Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Shutterstock

Gone are any pretences about saving the Iranian people. “They really are a nation of terror and hate,” Donald Trump says of Iran. Asked if he would like to help its people, he replied: “I’d like to, if they can behave, but they’ve been very menacing.” Perhaps even he sensed the counterproductive ugliness of this, hastily adding that they are “great people … smart, brilliant, energetic”.

It gets worse. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iran had “plans of taking over the entire Middle East” and “completely obliterating Israel,” adding: “JUST LIKE IRAN ITSELF, THOSE PLANS ARE NOW DEAD!” Pronouncing the death of a nation hardly screams liberation.

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