The real reason Iran issued that arrest warrant against Donald Trump

The government of Iran turned a lot of heads today when it issued an arrest warrant for Donald Trump, and asked Interpol to get involved. Iran certainly isn’t going to be able to arrest Trump while he’s the sitting President of the United States, and it probably won’t get to arrest him after that either. So what’s Iran really doing here?

Iran is seeking Donald Trump’s arrest because he gave the order to take out Iranian military official Qasem Soleimani. But Soleimani was killed six months ago, and nothing new has happened on that front. The only thing that’s changed is that Trump is now so weak and vulnerable, with his approval rating collapsing and his scandals worsening, Iran clearly thinks it can make Trump even weaker by making this announcement.

It’s worth noting that up until now, Iran clearly didn’t think it had enough leverage to gain anything by making such an announcement. But Iran can see what the rest of us can see. Six months ago, Trump was in a fairly weak position. These days he’s in a really weak position. Iran is symbolically flexing its muscles in the hope of helping to finish Trump off.