CNN: Iran stance is straight from Trump's North Korea playbook
Iran stance is straight from Trump's North Korea playbook
Analysis by Joshua Berlinger, CNN
Updated 5:27 AM ET, Tue May 21, 2019
(CNN)If the current war of words between Iran and the United States has strange echoes of 2017, it's because the same US strategy is at work.
The Trump administration is using its North Korea playbook on Iran: Use a "maximum pressure" campaign -- the same nomenclature was used for Tehran and Pyongyang -- to box the adversary into a corner, then try to negotiate. Respond to a threat by escalating your own threat. Then negotiate to alleviate tensions and claim a win.
In North Korea's case, it was US President Donald Trump's now-infamous "fire and fury" ultimatum that kicked off the biggest tensions: "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen... he has been very threatening beyond a normal state."
The threat against Iran came in the form of a tweet Sunday: "If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!"
More:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/20/asia/trump-iran-strategy-north-korea-intl/index.html
This is a good analysis comparing the administration's actions toward Iran and North Korea. Definitely worth reading the whole thing.