President Donald Trump’s decision to cut foreign aid funding could strengthen the president’s bargaining position as he looks to contain Iran.
“I look at the USAID cutoff and the praise that the Iranians have given as part of President Trump’s negotiating skills,” EJ Kimball, director of Policy & Strategic Operations at the U.S. Israel Education Association, told Fox News Digital.
The comments come after Trump’s controversial decision to halt funding for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and send most of the employees of USAID packing, part of the administration’s plan to weed out what it considers wasteful government spending.
Despite the controversy, the decision has received praise from the Iranian regime, who have traditionally viewed U.S. aid to Iran as a threat to the country’s government.
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Iran’s Supreme ruler Ali Khamenei, left, and President Donald Trump. (AP)
According to a report from The Associated Press on Wednesday, Trump’s move has been “lauded” in Iranian state media, who view the cuts to foreign aid as a blow to pro-democracy activists Iran believes have benefited from U.S. foreign aid.
The favorable perception of Trump’s move by Iran comes at a critical time, with Trump recently renewing the U.S.’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran and reaffirming the U.S. position that Iran can never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.
While Trump has used harsh rhetoric on Iran in recent days, including a vow to “obliterate” the country if it successfully carries out an alleged plot to assassinate him, the president has also urged the regime to begin negotiating for a “nuclear peace agreement” with the United States.
“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon. Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” Trump wrote in a post on social media Wednesday.
President Donald Trump arrives at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Evan Vucci/AP)
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Kimball believes Trump can use the cuts to foreign aid as a bargaining chip in those potential negotiations, noting the president could change his mind and resume the funding if the Iranians fail to reach an acceptable deal.
“I would say that he’s teasing the Iranians at the moment, knowing that really at any moment’s notice, he could immediately turn back on the spigot of funding to the opposition groups if he doesn’t feel like they’re acquiescing to his demands or negotiation,” Kimball said.
“It seems to me that he’s got a carrot-and-stick approach with the Iranian regime, and pausing funding for regime critics, teasing a deal, but also threatening sanctions, and talking to Israel about a military strike and how Iran will not get nuclear weapons is part of his master negotiating skills to keep his opponents off balance,” Kimball added.
A big banner depicting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is placed next to a ballistic missile in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 26, 2024. (Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)
In the end, Kimball believes Trump’s ultimate goal is to cut a deal that would eliminate Iran’s nuclear program without putting U.S. service members in harm’s way in another overseas conflict.
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“It’s been very clear he does not want to send U.S. troops to war, but he’s also not going to be soft about it and allow the taking of a bad deal to avoid war,” Kimball said. “The end goal for President Trump is a deal that removes the threat that Iran poses to the United States, to Israel, to the region, and really to the entire world, not just in their nuclear program, but in their ballistic missile development and delivery systems to ensure that Iran can be great again.”
