Protest against the United States’ withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in front of the United States Embassy in Tehran. Photo by Hamed Jafarnejad/Wikimedia Commons.

When Donald Trump illegally pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, he promised to secure a better arrangement through a policy of “maximum pressure” on the West Asian country. He did not get a better deal. Instead, Iran wrested back its bargaining chip by further increasing its enrichment of uranium.

Trump was, as Iran expert Trita Parsi argued, “given disingenuously bad advice” by his advisors, especially Mike Pompeo and John Bolton. According to Parsi, they “deceived Trump that escalating sanctions would bring Iran to its knees and enable Trump to secure a better deal while they knew all along that the strategy was designed to bring the US into war with Iran.” They misled Trump “into thinking that ramping up sanctions would break Iran and force it to capitulate to American demands.”

Instead of breaking Iran, US sanctions pushed it to reorient its trade and diplomatic relations. It turned to its neighbors, like Saudi Arabia, and looked east to China and Russia. Iran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, two massive international organizations whose goal is to counterbalance the American-led unipolar world. Iran also signed a 25-year strategic and economic partnership with China, as well as a Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Russia.

Iran didn’t capitulate to America: Iran turned away from America.

Now that Trump has returned to the White House for a second term, he faces a new president in Iran. Masoud Pezeshkian came to power on........

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