BBC Expert Slams Donald Trump’s Iran Knowledge Gap

Donald Trump has shown an “alarming lack of knowledge” about Iran despite attacking the Middle Eastern country, according to a BBC expert.

Jeremy Bowen, the corporation’s international editor, has said there is no evidence the Iranian regime is crumbling after more than two weeks of strikes from the US and Israel.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, Bowen said: “I think there was an expectation – from reports coming out of Washington and conversations and so on that I’ve had – seem to suggest that the Americans thought that was once the supreme leader was killed on the first day of the war, that there would be a fairly rapid disintegration after that.”

Trump himself suggested this week that the Iran war would end “soon”, and that the conflict “is very complete, pretty much”.

However, days before that he also claimed he would not stop the war until Iran’s “unconditional surrender”.

Bowen said: “Trump is a man who believes in strong leadership and if the leader goes, then maybe his theory was the regime would go, or there would be a Venezuela-style event where the top guy goes and then other people within the regime decide to effectively capitulate and do as the Americans say.

“If they really did believe all of that, it shows an alarming lack of knowledge about the way the regime is structured and the ideological nature of it.”

The White House kidnapped the Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro in January.

His replacement, Delcy Rodriguez, is hanging onto the US support in the meantime by abiding by their demands.

But, as Bowen noted, the Iran’s regime’s DNA is made up of “defiance and hatred” against the US.

While Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, his son – Mojtaba Khamenei – has already been announced as his replacement.

He has sworn to retaliate against the US and Israel, saying: “We will not refrain from avenging the blood of your martyrs.”

Bowen also pointed out that neighbouring Gulf countries could be left with a “terrible mess” to clear up in the region as the US are unlikely to commit to nation-building after the war.

“That particularly means Gulf countries are looking at all their strategy,” he said. “Their strategy was to be close to the Americans, and that will continue, but now they’re thinking they need to diversify a little bit.”