CTEC Director and Middlebury Institute Professor Jason Blazakis was quoted in the Washington Post U.S.-Iran tensions

Professor Blazakis discussed the use of social media by President Trump and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to deescalate overt military action last week, after the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. and Coalition forces.

Professor Blazakis explained, “We’re at a unique point in time in which Iran’s senior leadership sees this as a more effective way to communicate a message to the president because the president uses Twitter to message policy and orchestrate threats…there have been moments when the social messages might have helped de-escalate tensions, pointing to tweets from Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and Trump after Iran’s missile attacks that appeared to signal both sides would be willing to halt overt military action.”

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