The resignation of US Defense Secretary James Mattis and his likely replacement by an Iran hawk could intensify the US pressure on Tehran, a foreign policy expert said.
“General Mattis was both a proponent of JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or Iran’s nuclear deal] and an opponent of war,” Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat, said in a talk with ISNA, suggesting that his absence would pave the way for a stronger pressure campaign.
Mattis handed in his resignation on Thursday after falling out with US President Donald Trump over his foreign policies, including the American military presence in the Middle East.
He was the last remaining high-ranking member of the Trump Cabinet who had publicly opposed the president’s Iran policy, particularly the US unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal in May.
Mattis argued that staying in it would be in America’s national security interest as it allowed “pretty robust” oversight of Iran’s activities.
Other major critics of the US administration’s aggressive Iran policy had already been fired and replaced by Trump champions. National security adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson lost their jobs over their opposition and were substituted by John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, both extremely hostile toward Iran.
The most potential replacements for the Pentagon chief, according to analysts, include Republican senators Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham, also vocal proponents of Trump’s harsh anti-Iran policies.
“With Mattis's departure, if the defense secretary’s replacement is aligned with John Bolton, a trio of Bolton, Pompeo and the new Pentagon chief will be formed, who will add further impetus to anti-Iran measures,” Mousavian said.
Contentious Decisions
Mattis’s dispute with Trump escalated following the president’s decision on Wednesday to pull all US troops out of Syria and his plans for a drawdown in Afghanistan.
The move has also bewildered US allies and triggered harsh reactions from Congress.
According to Mousavian, Trump believes that regional countries, including Iran, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, are investing in the region and the US needs to step away from this scene of confusion.
Trump has replied to criticisms on Twitter lamenting the US status as “policeman of the Middle East.”
“Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS [the self-styled Islamic State terror group]. We were doing their work. Time to come home & rebuild,” he tweeted.
Nevertheless, the planned military wind-down has been welcomed by Iranian officials who described the US military intervention as originally “wrong, illogical and a source of tension”.
Mousavian stressed that under the new circumstances, Russia, Iran and Turkey, which act as guarantors of peace in Syria, need to strengthen their cooperation to address the Syrian crisis.
“The US pullout of forces in Syria will only benefit the Moscow-Tehran-Ankara trio, if they step up their joint efforts and manage the crisis as soon as possible,” he said.
A multi-sided civil war has been raging on in Syria for over seven years, in which the US intervened in 2014.
Peace efforts have seen some favorable progress with agreements on the formation of a Syrian constitutional committee, although its makeup has not yet been agreed upon.
The committee is set to have 150 members made up of same-size groups from the government and opposition as well as independents.
