USA, EU - THE PROBLEM OF IRAN: BETWEEN "HARD" AND "SOFT" POWER

With Donald Trump in White House, the Iran issue is getting more and more a point of divergence between the U.S. and EU's Middle East strategies. And that is despite the common assessment of the danger the alleged weaponization of the Iran's nuclear program might pose to the world. The Tehran's regional policy is being perceived in Washington - contrary to Brussels - as the main cause of destabilization and degradation in the Middle East. The relatively soft European Union's line relying on negotiations has been subject to a growing pressure on the American as well as Saudi parts during the last months. Those powers are insisting on "improving" the basic international deal signed in 2015 with Iran. In the meantime, it is getting clear with every day that the threats engineered by Washington to abandon the deal are playing into the hands of the Iranian "hawks" who are displeased with the deal from their side as well. Amid those conditions the EU diplomacy is seeking to keep the deal alive and intact. It will be a difficult task given the resolve from both sides - the American and Iranian "hawks" - to follow their confrontational lines which might not only lead to cancelation (namely, destruction) of the deal but might end up with direct military clashes. Anyway, the closest American allies in the region - Israel and the Arab monarchies - are assumingly ready for such developments.