'Idea that Trump can be led around by Israel is foolishness,' ex-envoy to Iran says
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In an interview with FRANCE 24, Elliott Abrams, a former special envoy of US President Donald Trump to Iran, dismissed as "foolishness" the idea that Israel led Trump into war with Tehran. Abrams, who served during Trump's first term in office, said he backed the ongoing war, saying that "five presidents in a row" had vowed to prevent a nuclear Iran but Trump "is the first person who's really acting on that".
"One should remember Trump is not an ideologue; that is the last thing he is," Abrams said, describing the US president instead as "someone who looks around for opportunities".
The notion that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu steered Trump into war is "foolishness", Abrams claimed. Trump is "a very headstrong individual" who cannot be "led around by the Israelis or anybody else", he asserted.
Abrams said he himself supported the decision to go to war against Tehran, arguing that the Iranian regime had built a "vast missile and drone programme" while enriching uranium to 60 percent.
"Five presidents in a row said we will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon," he said, but Trump "is the first person who's really acting on that".
Kent's resignation: 'Bigotry and anti-Semitism'
Asked about Joe Kent, the Trump administration's counterterrorism chief who resigned over the war, denouncing "pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby", Abrams was scathing.
Kent's resignation letter "demonstrated why such people should never be permitted to hold government jobs", he said, going on to cite "the bigotry in it, the anti-Semitism in it" and dismissing Kent as "a conspiracy theorist".
Read moreWhat to know about the resignation of Joe Kent, counterterrorism chief and Trump loyalist
Critics argue that the Trump administration has no plan on how to end the war. Abrams said he believes Trump will decide to end the conflict "by the end of March".
But should Iran choose to keep fighting, he warned: "Trump, of course, will continue".
