ISAS Insights

United States (US) President Donald Trump's decision to not certify to the US Congress that Iran was abiding by the terms of the agreement which Tehran had signed in July 2015 with America and five other major powers will have serious worldwide consequences. It will further erode the rule-based world order built over the last seven decades. And it will, albeit indirectly, widen the gap that already exists in the professed strategic interests of the countries in South Asia. This paper examines why the American president took that decision and where that will take him, his country and the world in the years ahead.