Anton to Lead Trump Team Negotiating With Iran

President Donald Trump has chosen Michael Anton, the State Department’s director of policy planning, to lead the next round of nuclear negotiations with Iran, Politico reported Thursday. 

This weekend, Anton will lead a dozen U.S. officials in talks with members of the Iranian government on the subject of constraining the Islamic fundamentalist state’s nuclear program in exchange for easing of sanctions. 

There is reason to fear that Iran could develop nuclear weapons if left unrestrained. Other nation, such as India and Pakistan, have previously transitioned from nuclear energy programs to nuclear weapons programs with relative ease.

Anton’s talks with Iranian officials will precede Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s next meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Anton was present at Witkoff’s previous meeting last week.

But who is Anton, the official playing a major role in negotiations to prevent another war from breaking out in the Middle East?

State Department Director of Policy Planning Michael Anton (state.gov)

A former senior fellow for the Claremont Institute, Anton worked as an assistant for strategic communications in the first Trump administration. 

Alongside Witkoff, a former real estate investor and lawyer, Anton fits Trump’s pattern of employing outsiders in statecraft.

He first came to prominence within the pro-Trump movement with his 2016 Claremont Essay, “The Flight 93 Election,” in which he compared voting that year for Hillary Rodham Clinton or Trump for president to the dilemma faced by the passengers aboard one of planes hijacked on 9/11.

 In this same essay, Anton criticized conservative figures who push for “endless, pointless, winless war.” 

The stakes are high in these negotiations. Trump has repeatedly implied that if Iran doesn’t negotiate with the United States, then there would be military action.

For now, the White House is attempting to settle differences with Tehran. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken of the possibility of a “civil, peaceful nuclear program” in Iran. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)

In a recent interview, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he was considering a deal to allow Iran to import uranium.

“There’s a pathway to a civil, peaceful nuclear program if they want one,” said Rubio. 

Adding pressure to the negotiations are the complaints from congressmen who are categorically opposed to negotiating with Iran.

“You’re never going to be able to negotiate with that kind of regime that has been destabilizing the region for decades already, and now we have an incredible window, I believe, to do that, to strike and destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview released Thursday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also said in January that Trump should “take this moment in time to decimate the Iran nuclear program.”

Israel has also pressured the U.S. to strike Iran. The New York Times reported last week that Israel sought Trump’s approval for strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. 

Asked about reportedly waving off the attacks, Trump told the press, “I wouldn’t say waved off. I’m not in a rush to do it because I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death, and I’d like to see that. That’s my first option. If there’s a second option, I think it would be very bad for Iran … I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt anybody … but Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

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