Sennott: Trump's Iran Policy Is Made Without Any Sense of History

Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo — President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House on the ballistic missile strike that Iran launched against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and military leaders, looks on.

Arjun Singh is a producer for Boston Public Radio. A California native, Arjun moved to Boston to study international relations at Boston University. Prior to working at WGBH, Arjun worked at a tech company and for a political campaign.

January 13, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

Many say the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which allowed Iran to move forward with a civilian nuclear program under international oversight was at the root of President Trump's conflicts with that nation's leadership.

WGBH News Analyst Charlie Sennott, however, said that for Americans to truly understand the weight of Trump’s decision to kill an Iranian general, they need to know the role the U.S. played in forming modern Iran.

“We forget all the history,” Sennott said during an interview with Boston Public Radio on Monday. “We forget about the prime minister [Mohamed] Mossadegh who was basically ousted by the United States’ CIA. Then we had the Shah put in place. The Shah was a terrible leader who tortured people and he was our guy.”

Though Sennott said Iran is far from an innocent player in the geopolitics of the Middle East, the nation’s anger towards Americans is not wholly unfounded.

He pointed out that the U.S. has a long history of meddling in the nation and — after the 1979 Iranian Revolution — effectively began to treat the country as a pariah state.

Yet, what concerns Sennott most about Trump’s actions, however, is the president’s open disdain for diplomacy and diplomats.

“I think we are in the most perilous and fateful moment for the Middle East in a very long time, and I think it is a time when we have to regret that the State Department has been gutted of the people who understand the region,” Sennott said. “The one thing you can’t argue with is [Trump is] not a student of history, not someone who understands the region, nor the complexities that come with it.”