Biden and Trump's handling of foreign policy 0:32
Editor's Note
: Former Vice President Joe Biden is the Democratic presidential nominee.
The opinions expressed in this comment are the author's own.
(CNN) -
When Donald Trump ran for president, he promised a "better deal" to contain Iran's nuclear program and promised to put pressure on Tehran to reduce its aggressive behavior in the Middle East.
Like so many of Donald Trump's promises, these proved to be just empty words.
Instead, he carelessly scrapped a policy that was working to keep America out of harm's way and replaced it with one that has made the threat worse.
Trump's policy on Iran was shown last month to be a dangerous failure.
At the United Nations, Trump was unable to rally a single one of America's closest allies to extend the United Nations arms embargo against Iran.
Trump then tried to unilaterally reimpose the United Nations sanctions against Iran, so that virtually every member of the United Nations Security Council would rally to reject his tactic.
Now, there are reports that Iran has accumulated ten times more enriched uranium than when President Barack Obama and I left office.
We need to change course urgently.
I have no illusions about the challenges that the Iranian regime poses to America's national security interests, to our friends and partners, and to its own people.
But there is a smart way to be tough on Iran, and there is the Trump way.
He has ignored our closest allies and walked away - on his own, without a plan - from an agreement that put the eyes and ears of the world inside Iran's nuclear program and was verifiably blocking Iran's pathways to a nuclear weapon.
He has repeatedly raised tensions, creating the risk of approaching another war in the Middle East without a realistic strategy or outcome.
He has embarked on risky climbs that put our troops in danger, then downplayed his brain injuries, which he described as "headaches."
By any objective measure, Trump's "maximum pressure" has been a boon to the Iranian regime and a failure in the interests of the United States.
Five years ago, diplomacy under the leadership of the United States produced an agreement that guaranteed that it would take Iran at least a year to produce enough fissile material for a bomb.
Now - because Trump has relieved Iran of its obligations under the nuclear deal - Tehran's "breakthrough" time has been shortened to just a few months.
And there is no serious diplomacy underway to reverse it.
The crucial fact is that Iran is closer to a nuclear bomb today than it was when Donald Trump took office.
And Trump doesn't have an answer for that.
Five years ago, even Russia and China sided with our European allies in favor of a US-led approach to Iran's nuclear program.
Now the United States is isolated.
Trump's policies have brought Russia and China closer to Iran, while also reducing transatlantic relations to their lowest point in decades.
When tensions rose earlier this year, instead of mobilizing in favor of the United States, our European allies called for "all parties to exercise the utmost restraint and responsibility."
As Trump violated the agreement that the United States had negotiated and then acted recklessly, now the countries that make up the world power use all their energy to oppose American policy instead of working together to counter Tehran.
This mixture of confrontation and isolation will leave us the worst of both situations: without an arms embargo and without a possibility of a reversion to the United Nations sanctions, but also without any agreement to limit the nuclear program in Iran and no plans. except to double the bet by recklessly backing down.
Five years ago, Iran was a bad actor in the region requiring constant deterrence and pushback, but it had not deployed a major attack on US forces in the region in years.
Since Trump took office, Iran or its proxies have assassinated two US military personnel and a contractor, seriously wounded 100 members of the US troops, damaged Saudi oil facilities and disabled merchant ships navigating the Gulf.
Before Trump assumed the presidency, years passed without any missile attacks on US facilities in Iraq.
Now they happen on a regular basis.
Rather than restoring a deterrent posture, Trump has emboldened Iran.
Instead of ending the "endless wars" Trump has repeatedly pushed the United States to the brink of war.
If this is what Trump considers a success, I would not like to see what a failure would be.
The good news is that there is still a better way to do it.
This what he would do as president.
First, I would firmly commit to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Second, it would offer Tehran a credible path to return to diplomacy.
And if Iran strictly abides by that nuclear deal, the United States would rejoin the deal as a starting point for future negotiations.
We will work with our partners to strengthen and extend all provisions of the agreement while addressing other issues of concern.
This includes working tirelessly to free unjustly detained Americans and to speak out against the regime for human rights violations, including the execution of fighter Navid Afkari this week and the unjust detention of political prisoners, such as human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. .
We will work to help our allies reduce tensions and end regional conflicts, including the disastrous war in Yemen.
I will also take the necessary measures to ensure that the sanctions imposed by the United States do not hamper Iran's fight against covid-19 and, from day one, I will remove that shameful travel ban specific to some countries where there is a Muslim majority, among other things.
Third, I will continue to insist that all destabilizing activities by Iran, which threaten our friends and partners in the region, be withdrawn.
I will go back to the record-breaking security assistance agreement between the United States and Israel that we signed when I was vice president.
The United States will also work alongside Israel to ensure that it can defend itself against Iran and its proxies.
We will continue to use specific sanctions against human rights abuses in Iran, for its support of terrorism and the ballistic missile program.
If Iran prefers confrontation, I am prepared to defend our vital interests and our troops.
But I am also prepared to use the path of diplomacy, if Iran takes the necessary steps to show that it is ready to do so as well.
By having the world back on our side, the Biden administration will make it a priority to establish the right policy with Iran.
Nuclear deal with IranDonald TrumpJoe Biden
