How Iran Can Benefit from Bolton’s Dismissal

Foad Izadi has, in an interview with the Entekhab daily, weighed in on the reasons behind the dismissal of Bolton, and its possible benefits for Iran.

The expert says Bolton’s dismissal can be good news for Iranians.

“The reality is that within the US government, there was no one more hardline than him in opposition to Iran, and now, the inefficiency of Bolton’s anti-Iran policies may prompt the person replacing him to move toward reforming his policies,” said the analyst.

Elsewhere in his interview, Izadi expressed his opinion about how much of a positive signal Bolton’s dismissal can be for US-Iran talks.

“So far, there has been no official more hardline than Bolton with regards to Iran,” he said.

“Based on a report by New Yorker, the concern of this American politician over the past 20 years has been to topple the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Izadi noted.

“There is no official in the United States who has more animosity toward Iran than Bolton does. Now, the same person who claimed Iran will not survive to see its 40th anniversary, didn’t [remain in office enough to] see his second anniversary of becoming the White House national security advisor,” he added.

“The issue of having a meeting with [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani is another issue, and it somehow seems incorrect to link it to the dismissal of the US national security advisor,” he said.

The analyst further noted that the major reason behind Bolton’s removal is the inefficiency of the consultations he gave to US President Donald Trump. Moreover, the most important case handled by Bolton was that of Iran.

“Bolton had said the Islamic Republic of Iran would not [survive to] see its 40th anniversary, and had evaluated the US withdrawal from the JCPOA as a reason to make Tehran retreat and give concessions,” said Izadi.

“Bolton had predicted that either Iran’s political system would be toppled, or the country would agree to give major concessions,” added the analyst.

“He even called for military action in dealing with Iran and evaluated such a move as being very easy; however, the ongoing developments, especially Iran’s downing of a US drone, showed all options that he had in mind, even military action, were wrong,” the expert said.

According to Izadi, Bolton’s policies vis-à-vis Venezuela also failed. Bolton believed US pressure would lead to the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and bring Western-backed Juan Guaido to power, but his predictions failed to come true.

All these developments, said the analyst, led Trump to arrive at the conclusion that Bolton was not efficient enough as a national security advisor, which is an important position in the US.