Iran should keep a close watch on US Vice President Mike Pence as he could play a crucial role in advancing the warmongering policies of White House officials, a political analyst says.
In an interview with ISNA, Rahman Qahremanpour added that it is telling that Pence, who has largely stayed in the background of major pronouncements on US foreign policy, took center stage at an American-convened conference on Middle East security in the Polish capital Warsaw and the Munich Security Conference earlier this month.
“US foreign policy toward the region and Iran has undergone some changes over the past month,” he said, adding that Pence’s unusually fiery addresses in Warsaw and Munich should not be underestimated.
In his speeches, the US vice president called Iran the “greatest threat to peace and security in the Middle East”—an accusation Tehran denies—and lashed out at Washington’s three closest European allies for supporting the 2015 nuclear deal, attempting to break American sanctions and undermining attempts to confront the Islamic Republic.
The administration of ex-president, Barack Obama, eased US sanctions on Iran under the terms of the agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program, but US President Donald Trump reimposed them when he withdrew from the accord—formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—last year.
Pence demanded that Europe should also leave the pact and that France, Britain and Germany should shut down the instrument they have set up for facilitating transactions with Iran.
“We had not seen such blunt statements on these issues by Mike Pence before as he was more active on the executive front,” said Qahremanpour, who is an expert on international issues.
New Push by Neocons
The political analyst also said the American foreign policy spotlight on Pence suggests the neocons at the White House are stepping out of the shadows.
“The neoconservatives have felt that the time is ripe to circumvent Trump and concluded that [National Security Advisor John] Bolton and [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo are not able to get around Trump alone. So Pence has been added as the third end of the triangle,” he said.
He predicted that the US vice president will try to play a major role in carrying the torch of confrontation with the Islamic Republic.
“These new developments and their implications are very important for Iran so it should closely monitor all the moves by the neoconservatives at the White House,” he said.
"Pence’s new role in US foreign policy is reminiscent of the time when figures such as then-US secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, managed to convince President George W. Bush to wage a war against Iraq in 2003."
However, Qahremanpour played down the prospects of an imminent military conflict between Iran and America, saying that the hawks in Trump’s Cabinet still do not have the upper hand and the current situation in the region does not allow a new confrontation.
