Trump billed himself as a peacemaker, but 3 separate conflicts tell a different story : NPR
Over the past five months, President Trump has become directly involved in three separate conflicts, but so far, his record is at best mixed.
Ailsa Chang, host:
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran seems to hold, at least for the moment. President Trump has been claiming a credit and presented himself as a peacekeepers since his return to the office in January. Over the past five months, Trump has become directly involved in three separate conflicts, but so far, his balance sheet is at best mixed. To explain, we are now joined by the national security correspondent NPR, Greg Myre. Hi, greg.
Greg myre, byline: hi, ailsa.
Chang: OK, I have the impression that so much have happened in the past 24 hours. What is the current status of the ceasefire of Israel-Iran?
Myre: Well, he holds, even if it does not yet seem very solid or safe. Trump raged to Israel and Iran this morning, saying that they both fired after the agreement entered into force. And Trump, as we know, is a very strong supporter of Israel, so his strong criticism was striking.
(Soundbit of archived registration)
President Donald Trump: Israel, as soon as we concluded the agreement, they came out and they dropped a bombs burden like what I had never seen before. The biggest charge we have seen. I am not happy with Israel.
Myre: Most shots in the last 12 days have been at night. It is now early Wednesday morning in both countries, it will be the first big test to find out if it works. And, Ailsa, at this stage, I feel forced to quote Mark Twain, who said: “Abandoning smoking is the simplest thing in the world. I know because I have done thousands of times.” Well, the same is true with the ceasefires of the Middle East.
Chang: Yeah.
Myre: They are easy to declare. It has been made countless times. The difficult part is to make them stick, and this is precisely where we are currently.
Chang: This quote is so appropriate. OK, but do we really know how much damage has been caused to the Iranian nuclear program?
Myre: Well, at this stage, we do not know with certainty, and this already looks like a major discord. Trump said US air strikes have completely erased nuclear installations. He denounced the media with anger today for questioning his position. But members of the national security community offer assessments that are at least somewhat contradicted with the president. An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told our colleague NPR Tom Bowman that the Defense Intelligence Agency considers that the damage was limited to the most important nuclear site in Iran, Fordo and the Iranian program was probably a few months away. Now we have to add that the president of the joint chiefs, General Dan Caine, said on Sunday at a press conference in the Pentagon that Iranian sites had suffered extremely serious damage, but a full assessment was still underway.
Chang: OK, so some competing claims in the United States, but how do you think that Israel and Iran are likely to characterize war?
Myre: Israel can therefore say that it greatly weakened Iran, its greatest rival in the region. And Iran can say that it has resisted a double barrel attack in the United States and Israel and is still standing. They could therefore both claim a kind of success, although it is a complete victory for Israel, and Iran has undergone another in a series of recent setbacks.
Chang: Very well, let’s turn to another war in the Middle East-Israel and Hamas in Gaza. What is the image there right now?
Myre: Yes, you know, this conflict has really been ignored in the past two weeks, but more than 40 Palestinian civilians have been killed in Israeli strikes today. It is according to Palestinian officials. The humanitarian crisis remains disastrous. And a reminder, Israel and Hamas had a cease-fire on January 19, the day before Trump was inaugurated. He claimed the credit for this truce, just as he did in Iran, saying that it would not have happened without him. But the cease-fire collapsed with an Israeli offensive in March. Trump did not try to hold the Israelis in Gaza, and this war is weighing in worse conditions that the day he took office.
Chang: Very good, in Europe now. The president also tried to negotiate peace in the Russian-Ukraine war ongoing. How is this effort going?
Myre: Yes, Ailsa, Trump has just arrived in the Netherlands for a NATO summit where this war will be very important. Trump can meet the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy there. In short, the fights have recently intensified, mainly because Russia has increased missiles and drone strikes. And Trump runs hot and cold on this war, sometimes saying that a ceasefire is close, then back and say that the two parties should have to fight it.
Chang: It’s Greg myre of NPR. Thank you, Greg.
Myre: Of course, Ailsa.
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