{"id":2112,"date":"2026-08-17T21:45:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=2112"},"modified":"2026-08-17T21:45:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:45:03","slug":"the-incoherence-of-trumps-past-week-of-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=2112","title":{"rendered":"The Incoherence of Trump\u2019s Past Week of Foreign Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is an edition of The<\/i> Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. <\/i>Sign up for it here.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

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A memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States, reached in June and intended to provide breathing room to end the conflict between the two countries, expired today. The agreement will be little missed: A cease-fire had effectively ended within about three weeks of its signing, and the MOU had failed to produce fruitful negotiations or a real opening of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s actions in the days leading up to the deadline demonstrate that his approach to the world, always contingent and improvisational, has lost its last shred of coherence. The White House cannot agree on the goals of the Iran war, much less on how to achieve them. The president is clashing with long-standing allies, in conflict with his vice president on the aims of the war, and publicly at odds with uniformed commanders over conditions for American troops stationed abroad.<\/p>\n

Trump on Friday called on Americans to accept higher gasoline prices as the cost of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He posted this morning that the \u201cnumber one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon\u201d\u2014even though his administration assessed before the war that Iran was not actively building weapons, even though the White House hasn\u2019t offered any explanation for how the war will prevent the regime from restarting its weapons program, and even though the war may make Iran\u2019s desire for a nuclear arsenal only more urgent. Meanwhile, Vice President Vance says that lowering<\/i> fuel prices is actually now \u201cgoal No. 1\u201d of the war.<\/p>\n

In practice, the real aim of any diplomatic or military action now is resuming ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran seized early in the conflict\u2014a risk foreseen by many analysts but not by Trump. For weeks now, Trump\u2019s basic choice has been clear: Either launch a much larger military operation, including ground troops, or else surrender de facto control of the strait permanently.<\/p>\n

The president refuses to accept this. He continues to complain that the Iranians are bad-faith negotiators, which is surely true but was well known before the war. During a speech on Friday, Trump said that \u201cpretty soon, I\u2019ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.\u201d This is dishonest, delusional, or both. Such a declaration would contradict Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2019s insistence on the neutrality of the strait as well as Trump\u2019s repeated statements that the U.S. should not act as a global policeman. But it\u2019s also beside the point, because the United States has no means to control the strait.<\/p>\n

The conditions for those U.S. troops already in the region are reportedly awful. Aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been at sea for nearly nine months, sailors report shortages of basic supplies, malfunctioning systems, and faltering mental health. When Trump was asked Friday about service members\u2019 families who have publicly voiced their worries, he insisted that they were not concerned: \u201cNo, they\u2019re not,\u201d he said, adding that the ship\u2019s deployment had not gone on \u201cnearly long enough\u201d yet. In a sign that military brass takes these worries seriously, the admiral overseeing the war visited the carrier this weekend and acknowledged mental-health issues.<\/p>\n

With the U.S. unwilling or unable to break the Hormuz deadlock, Oman has embarked on negotiations with Iran to create a toll system for ships. This morning, Trump threatened to expand the war with strikes against that country. \u201cIf Oman gets in the way, we\u2019ll bomb the shit out of them,\u201d he told Fox News. Trump\u2019s frustration with Oman is understandable, yet a threat to attack a venerable regional ally is still shocking.<\/p>\n

This kind of public conflict with allies has become typical. Over the weekend, Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner\u2014who has no official government post\u2014met with Hamas officials in an attempt to revitalize an administration plan to disarm the group and rebuild Gaza. That plan is struggling for several reasons, including a flat rejection from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long been close to Trump and reportedly talked him into the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Trump announced yesterday that he was curtailing joint military exercises with South Korea, \u201cbased on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea.\u201d This supposed friendship has produced a splashy 2018 summit and flattering correspondence that Trump purloined from the White House after he lost the 2020 election, but it has done nothing to advance American interests. Most important, it has done nothing to curtail North Korea\u2019s nuclear program. At the same time that Trump is fighting a war in Iran that he claims will prevent nuclear proliferation, he\u2019s bestowing a favor on North Korea, which has offered no concessions and many threats. But Trump also gave another reason for his snub, noting that South Korea\u2014like every other major U.S. ally\u2014has declined to get involved in the Iran quagmire.<\/p>\n

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Throughout Trump\u2019s two terms, many analysts have sought to discern some sort of guiding doctrine to his foreign policy. The incoherence of his actions in the past week alone should provide further evidence that looking for a framework is futile. Earlier this year, my colleagues Missy Ryan and Ashley Parker reported that the White House\u2019s foreign-affairs philosophy was \u201cFuck around and find out.\u201d Administration officials meant this as a warning to the leaders of other countries. But as the current crisis festers, they, too, are finding out.<\/p>\n

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