Iran Threat Front And Center In President Trump’s ‘State Of The Union’ Address

A central theme of United States President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was the threat posed by the Iranian regime, which he described as the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. “They do bad, bad things. To ensure this corrupt dictatorship never acquires nuclear weapons I withdrew the U.S. from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. And last fall we put in place the toughest sanctions ever imposed by us on a country,” the president affirmed, adding that, “we will not avert our eyes from a regime that chants death to America and threatens genocide against the Jewish people.” The speech was delivered after Tehran warned Jerusalem of a “firm and appropriate” response if the Israeli army continues striking Iranian targets in Syria, where the mullahs are attempting to establish forward-operating military bases. The threat was issued as Syria’s foreign minister held meetings in the Iranian capital, after which he reportedly said that it is the “duty [of the Assad regime] to keep Iranian security forces in Syrian territory.” Meanwhile, President Trump mentioned Israel once during his hour-long address in the context of the peace process with the Palestinians. “Our approach [to jump-starting negotiations] is based on principled realism—not discredited theories that have failed for decades to yield progress,” he affirmed. “For this reason, my administration recognized the true capital of Israel and proudly opened the American Embassy in Jerusalem.”