President Trump recently promised an increase in defence spending, partly by cutting the spending on the US State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and other non-defence programs. The US currently spends $600 billion on its defence[1] and the Trump administration plans to add another $50 billion to it[2].
President Trump’s military muscle approach has already risked US ties with Iran after Iran tested a ballistic missile. Trump Administration’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn remarked that we (US) is officially putting Iran on notice for what he said was a ‘provocation’.[3] It marked a sudden change in not only tone, but also policy in Washington towards Iran, as compared to President Trump’s predecessor Barrack Obama who was successful in negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran in 2015. Trump in his campaign frequently criticised the nuclear deal that the Obama administration agreed to with Iran, and referred to it as a weak and effective deal. The statement made by Michael Flynn made is obvious that Obama’s less confrontational approach towards Iran is now off the table. The tough posturing by the Trump administration also foreshadows even harder economic and diplomatic sanctions and measure against Iran. One of the official at the White House stated that, “We are in the process of evaluating the strategic options and the framework for how we want to approach these issues.”[4]
