Angering Iran, meeting Kim and siding with Putin

In the eighth instalment of our series recapping an unprecedented presidency, Joe Sommerlad looks at madcap exploits in Tehran, Jerusalem, Singapore, London and Helsinki

Trump and Putin at the Helsinki summit on 16 July 2018 (Reuters)

Donald Trump’s overseas misadventures continued into the summer of 2018 when he announced the withdrawal of the US from the Iran nuclear deal on 8 May, which had been agreed in July 2015 under Barack Obama in harmony with the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action had been intended to usher the rogue state in from the international wilderness by relieving sanctions in exchange for the country curtailing its nuclear aspirations but, to Trump, it was “defective to its core” and benefited only “the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism”, a point of view he had repeated endlessly as a candidate.

His decision to withdraw dangerously destabilised the region, set back the cause of peace and trashed years of delicate diplomatic work, bringing his administration alarmingly close to war with Tehran on several occasions.