Syed Jalal Sadatian, in an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations about the election of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States and the impact of his inauguration on the country’s interactions with Europe, said: Considering Trump’s performance and business oriented personality and his emphasis on the theme “America First,” he will seek to reduce the costs of the United States in all spheres, including in NATO, and this framework, he will carry out the same policy of his first term as president, that he will ask the Europeans to Increase their contribution to financing NATO from one and a half percent to four percent the GDP. Although this goal did not materialize in Trump’s first term, it will likely be on his agenda again, and if not, he will cut off all US aid to NATO.

Regarding the financial, military, and political support of the United States and Europe for Ukraine in the war with Russia, he stated: Considering Trump’s relatively close relationship with Putin and the fact that during the election campaigns, he repeatedly announced the slogan of the end of the war in Ukraine and its insult. Several times, he spoke to Ukrainian President Zelensky, who described him as a corrupt and fraudulent person who extorted money from NATO and Europe under the pretext of the war in Ukraine.

This former diplomat of our country stated: Together, these cases have strengthened the analysis and speculation that the European Union should either bear all the costs of the war in Ukraine or at the expense of sacrificing Ukraine and Russia’s victory in annexing the territories of eastern Ukraine and subsequently imposing more pressure on Europe, especially in the field of fuel supply, including oil and gas, to reconsider its policy towards Ukraine, which naturally means retreating against Russia and marking Europe’s major regional and global failure in global interactions.

Sadatian stated: With Trump taking office in the United States, Europe is worried it will enter a difficult situation. If it does not cooperate with America, it will lose the support of this country’s government in terms of politics, security, and economy. If they cooperate, they will lose Ukraine, and of course, by losing Ukraine in practice, the political and international position of Europe in the region and the world will weaken.

The expert on international issues stated that this situation is not very pleasant for European countries, including France and Germany, and that they will face a serious challenge. The issue of Ukraine is vital for Europeans, and for this reason, they have paid a lot of money to maintain their position against Russia. At the same time, it should be seen what approach Trump will take toward Europe, Russia, and the Ukraine issue in the near future.

He referred to Europe’s sensitivity towards Iran due to the claims about Iran’s military support to Russia: “Perhaps this situation can be considered a very good opportunity for the Islamic Republic of Iran to use this situation to improve relations with Europe.”

Referring to the recent visit of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency to Iran, Sadatian stated: Considering the pressure from European countries on Iran regarding our country’s nuclear activities, Mr. Grossi’s visit is important and should be used to the maximum to influence the approach of Europe and especially the European troika. In any case, it is necessary to regulate relations with Europeans better and improve relations with three European countries in a situation where Trump came to office with harsh policies towards Iran. In addition, with this work, the activation of the trigger mechanism will be prevented, and the balance and equilibrium will return to some extent to the foreign relations.

He emphasized that due to Trump’s coming to power, Europe’s position in global interactions will be in danger. Therefore, Europe needs to increase and deepen its interactions with important and influential countries in the world and at the regional level; improving relations with Iran is one of the important steps that Europeans can take in this process.