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No, the U.S. didn't "give Iran $150 billion" under the 2015 Nuclear Deal!
Here are the facts about the #IranDealpic.twitter.com/xcT73MEWa0
Crisis Group (@CrisisGroup) January 8, 2020
The Trump administration also further inflamed tensions by inviting NATO to become further involved in the Middle East, which NATO chief chief Jens Stoltenberg agreed to.
"The President asked the secretary general for NATO to become more involved in the Middle East," a NATO statement said. "They agreed that NATO could contribute more to regional stability and the fight against international terrorism."
So things are only continuing to heat up with Iran, and there is no reason to believe more eruptions like the direct military confrontation we just experienced won't occur again, with the world perhaps getting a lot less lucky next time. Trump and his supporters are trying to claim the evasion of full-scale war as a victory for both peace and for America, but it is neither.
All of the defenses of Trump's warmongering that you've been seeing are premised upon the unquestioned assumption that it is both reasonable and acceptable for the United States to maintain a military presence in the Middle East, even in nations whose governments don't want them there -- like Iraq and Syria. If the US didn't insist on maintaining an enormous military presence in this one area on the other side of the planet, there would be no debate about the need for America to "defend" itself by attacking the Iranian economy, assassinating government officials, and conducting airstrikes upon Iraqi militias. It would just be another country on the other side of the world, doing its own thing in its own way.
Most Americans haven't thought very hard about this premise. They are fed some lines about the need to protect American "interests" and some unexplained need to defend Israel, and because those lines are spoken in an authoritative tone of voice most are content to leave it there. But if Americans actually laid out all the facts in front of them and thought deeply about what their government's Middle Eastern military presence costs them and risks for them compared to what it actually gains them, it would be seen for the insane imperialist power agenda that it so clearly is.
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