WHERE IS REX TILLERSON? AS IRAN PROTESTS RAGE, SECRETARY OF STATE CONSPICUOUS BY HIS ABSENCE

Description

This may not be a bad thing. If Trump and Haley actually care about human rights in Iran, says Andreas Krieg, a Middle East expert and Assistant Professor in the Department of Defence Studies at King’s College London, they would do well to take a page from Tillerson’s strategic silence. Read more: Tillerson says State Department cuts will be fine because U.S. will solve more wars By embracing the protesters and saying the U.S. is willing to support the movement against the Iranian government, “I think they are actually fuelling the narrative of the regime, which is saying that [the protests are] the doing of external agents,” Krieg tells Newsweek . “That’s very much counterproductive.” “I think this is one reason why Tillerson is very hesitant to jump on that bandwagon, because anything that comes out of the White House regarding Iran is very much part of the new conservative agenda that we see in Washington,” he says. The Trump administration has never had a grand a strategy on dealing with Iran, Krieg argues, apart from the president saying he doesn’t like the regime and the deal to curb its nuclear weapons program, struck by former President Barack Obama, America’s allies in Europe, and Russia in 2015. Tillerson differs from Trump in this respect, because he has publicly backed the deal. The accord lifted U.S. and European sanctions that had crippled the Islamic republic’s economy in exchange for bolstered global security. The hope was that rising prosperity in Iran would bolster a moderate agenda. Tillerson’s approach to global diplomacy has broken with Trump's on multiple issues, including North Korea, nuclear weapons, Russia, and Iran. His silence, and especially inability to rein in Haley - nominally, at least, his subordinate - can also be read as a sign of his weakness in the administration, as he is often overruled by Trump. As the former CEO of the oil giant Exxon Mobil, Tillerson “definitely understands strategy and the importance of strategy and I think that is one reason why he doesn't just take [Trump’s] side in this,” Krieg says. “It's like playing with fire, especially when you know the Trump administration is so supportive of what's going on in Saudi Arabia,” he continued, pointing out the Saudi regime has “very much” the same problems as Iran when it comes to the economic conditions of its citizens.

Period	6 Jan 2018
Held at	Newsweek