Foreign policy under President Trump can often be wildly unpredictable, with optimistic offers of diplomacy and wild ravings about the “great suffering” he’s going to inflict militarily interspersed, and seemingly nobody in the administration on the same page.



So as the US threats against Iran spiral out of control, many saw it as business as usual, with Trump objecting to any report that there is disagreement within the administration. In comments Friday, President Trump indicated that his dangerously inscrutable foreign policy is by design.



Trump bragged on Twitter that “Iran can have no idea what is actually going on.” Later in the day, he was talking to real estate agents and said it was “probably a good thing” that Iran has no understanding of his policy toward them.



This all seems to verify Iran’s official position that the US is not approaching them in an honest manner. Administration offers of talks and threats of war are all built around a deliberate policy of making sure Iran, and for that matter the American public, have no idea what the president’s real intentions are.



This is in keeping with Trump’s approach to the ISIS War, which was being very opaque about policy to leave them guessing. While this is keeping potential enemies guessing, it’s also keeping close allies uncomfortably off-balance, and alienating many who believe the US is behaving unreasonably.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz