Bolton fired after disagreeing with Trump on Iran: report

The sacking of John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, is tied to a fundamental disagreement over the issue of easing of Iran sanctions, a Bloomberg report said.

Trump fired Bolton via Twitter, saying he had “strongly disagreed” with many of Bolton’s hawkish positions, including on relations with Iran and North Korea.

While it is no secret the two men had not seen eye to eye on a number of key foreign policy issues, the timing of Bolton’s exit is more specifically linked to his pushback against Trump signalling his willingness to ease sanctions on Iran as a way to secure a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani, Bloomberg said.

Citing three anonymous people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that Bolton had argued forcefully against the idea when it was brought up in the Oval Office on Monday.

After Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, expressed his support for Trump’s idea, “Trump decided to oust Bolton” later in the day.

Bolton was a strong advocate of the US’ “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, where he had spearheaded the US abandonment of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and the reimposition of sanctions. He has also long called for pre-emptive attacks on Tehran to destroy its nuclear programme.

According to the individuals cited by Bloomberg, the White House has begun preparations for Trump to meet Rouhani on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly during the week of September 23 in New York.

The fractious relationship between Bolton and Trump has long been demonstrated in their disagreements over international policy.

On Wednesday, Trump said Bolton had been a “disaster” on North Korea policy, “out of line” on Venezuela, and had not gotten along with important administration officials.

Trump said Bolton had made mistakes, including offending North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un by demanding that he follow a “Libyan model” and hand over all his nuclear weapons.