Zakaria said the US president must ultimately accept that he too has to ‘give something up’
KARACHI:
Senior American journalist and noted author Fareed Zakaria has said that US President Donald Trump will have to “give something up” to secure a deal with Iran to end the conflict.
In an interview d Express 24/7 Program ‘Full Frame’ with host Fahd Husain, Zakaria said President Trump would want a deal that put him in a stronger position than former US President Barack Obama.
“He cannot accept that he went through all this high drama, pulled out of the nuclear deal, bombed the nuclear program, bombed Iran, essentially going to war with Iran, and all he ends up with is what Obama was able to get through the negotiations,” he said, adding that Trump would try to portray any outcome as an improvement over the Iran nuclear deal.
“It is clear that Donald Trump has now entered into something that is more complicated than he imagined… But cannot achieve the result he wants, which is an Iranian surrender.”
He noted that the US president would have to make concessions, such as easing sanctions or restoring a level of diplomatic engagement. Zakaria added that Trump’s approach to negotiations, including his contacts with China, showed a degree of pragmatism.
Zakaria said the US president would ultimately have to accept that he too would have to “give something up”, such as sanctions on Iran or some level of diplomatic re-engagement. He said Trump might be able to do that, citing his negotiations with China as an example of him acting more hands-on.
He described recent developments and the announcement of negotiations as a hopeful sign, saying it appeared both sides wanted a deal.
“So both sides kind of need a deal, but they have a very hard time guessing that,” he said, adding that there was deep mistrust between U.S. and Iranian negotiators, with both sides having legitimate reasons to be distrustful.
He described the latest US and Israeli strikes as the “most devastating blow” to Iran’s military, nuclear program and basic command-and-control system since 1979, and said the country’s economy was also in extremely bad shape with growing public discontent.
Zakaria, who also hosts CNN’s ‘Fareed Zakaria GPS’, praised Pakistan’s mediation efforts. “Frankly, Pakistan’s mediation has been very positive and very helpful because you need a facilitator when you have so much accumulated distrust.”
He also warned that miscalculations could derail the process and push the situation back towards violence.
He called the confrontation with Iran a turning point and said the United States did not base its military action on any sense of maintaining an international order or a rules-based system. He added that the approach reflected feelings among parts of the American public that the country had carried the burdens of maintaining the global order for too long and should instead act in a more self-interested, short-term and transactional manner.
“One thing to remember about Trump is that right now he is the most unpopular president in American history, more unpopular than Richard Nixon was when he resigned after Watergate,” he said, adding that Trump still retained significant support from about 35% of the population who strongly believe in his approach.
Regarding Pakistan’s role, Zakaria again praised its mediation efforts while stressing the importance of domestic development. He said Pakistan needed to improve the lives of its people to ensure a sustainable path to growth, calling it the most important source of strength.
“The real way to maintain power and influence on the world stage is economic growth and technological progress. You have to have the weight on the world stage to have the voice,” he concluded.
