Washington – With the Iran war now at a costly standoff and crises from Ukraine to Gaza still unresolved, U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambitious foreign policy agenda appears stuck as he heads into November’s midterm elections. The setbacks are striking for a president who returned to office last year promising to be a “peacemaker” and made resolving international conflicts a centerpiece of his second-term agenda.
Trump has grown impatient with reporters’ questions and even U.S. allies. This week, he lashed out at reporters pressing him on foreign policy issues and renewed his threat to bomb Oman, a U.S. ally negotiating with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Labor Day, on Sept. 7 this year, is traditionally when election campaigns kick into high gear, and Republicans face the prospect that unresolved conflicts abroad and their economic fallout at home could cost the party its hold on Congress.
Trump has called off talks with Tehran after pushing for weeks for a diplomatic solution and announced on Wednesday a new campaign of “economic warfare” against the Islamic Republic in an apparent acknowledgment that months of military attacks have not forced the concessions the U.S. wants to see. As inflation persists and the Iran war drives up gasoline prices, Trump’s approval rating has fallen to another low point with just 33% of Americans in the latest /Ipsos poll approving of his performance. Other efforts to broker peace have also stalled.
On Monday, Trump’s negotiator and son-in-law Jared Kushner left empty-handed from talks to advance a Gaza peace deal. And an expected visit to Kyiv by Kushner and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff to revive long-stalled negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine has yet to happen. After a string of early foreign policy achievements, including a Gaza ceasefire and the capture of Venezuela’s leader, Trump’s record has become increasingly defined by his stalled diplomatic efforts.
The conflict with Iran has weighed “intensely” on the president and there is no consensus inside the White House on how to resolve it, one Trump ally said on condition of anonymity. The pressure could increase if investors conclude the war will drag on, driving up U.S. borrowing costs and further constraining Trump’s domestic agenda. Trump has said the economic costs are worth it in order to ensure Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon despite Iran’s denials it seeks one.
A senior Trump administration official said U.S. sanctions and a naval blockade had crippled Iran’s economy and left it “completely broke,” adding, “There are many levers the president can crank harder in the weeks ahead.” Some experts give Trump credit for a willingness to grapple with issues they believe other presidents have been unable or unwilling to solve. Trump has upended traditional diplomatic norms of peacemaking, relying on leveraging America’s economic and military might including with U.S. allies, but that unorthodox style has yielded mixed results. He brought parties to the table with the aim of ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the longest war in Europe since World War II is nowhere near ending, with the Russian airstrikes killing 16 people in the Ukrainian capital on Thursday.
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