Reactions from Some U.S. Media Following Trump's Strategy Announcement Regarding Iran

U.S. media have reacted differently to statements and reports from the President of the United States regarding Iran's non-compliance with the nuclear agreement. On October 13, Donald Trump announced his new strategy towards Iran, which allows the U.S. Treasury Department to add the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its sanctions list. Trump also did not confirm Iran's compliance with the nuclear agreement. Several right-leaning media outlets in the U.S. praised Trump's decision. A political observer from Fox News stated that Tehran has not been loyal to the 'spirit' of the nuclear agreement, saying, 'Someone needs to tell the Iranians that they are now dealing with a 'real contract.' Many American conservatives refer to the JCPOA as 'Obama's deal' and believe that his administration took a weak stance towards Iran. The right-wing website 'Red State' described the optimism of the Obama administration regarding Iran's compliance with the nuclear agreement as 'foolish,' stating that Iran has a forty-year history of supporting terrorism and that it is naive to think they have become friends of America. However, Jennifer Rubin, a conservative writer for The Washington Post, disagrees with Trump's decision. She wrote that on the first day of announcing new policies towards Iran, Trump isolated the United States, lost bipartisan support in Congress, and shifted attention from Iran's other non-political actions (support for terrorism, ballistic missile testing) to 'America's non-compliance' with the agreement. According to Rubin, the Trump administration showed that 'it lacks the ability to eliminate potential dangers.' The newspaper also criticized Trump's leadership during critical moments, stating that his approach of 'my way or the highway' contradicts the way the U.S. has operated globally since World War II. Antony Blinken, Deputy Secretary of State during Barack Obama's administration, wrote in an article for The New York Times: 'It will be the United States - not Iran - that will violate the agreement and isolate Washington - not Tehran - around the world; it will allow Iran to pursue nuclear weapons again or remain in the deal for its economic benefits, in which case the U.S. will have to sanction its closest allies for trading with Iran. This will allow hardliners in Iran, who are in conflict with moderates, to say, 'We told you so!' According to this foreign policy expert, the U.S. withdrawal from this agreement will ultimately undermine Trump's ability to negotiate agreements that benefit American security. After Trump announced that he would not certify Iran's compliance with the nuclear agreement, the U.S. Congress has 60 days to decide on imposing new sanctions on Iran.