Trump’s Iran obsession strikes again:

U.S. President Donald Trump will chair a U.N. Security Council meeting on Iran this month to spotlight its “violations of international law” during the annual gathering of world leaders in New York, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Tuesday.

There are many more grave and pressing concerns in the world than the Trump administration’s fixation on Iran, so this meeting will be an unfortunate waste of time and attention that could have been put to better use. U.S. Iran policy is cruel and unjust, and this meeting will give the other members of the council an opportunity to criticize it to Trump’s face. The entire exercise is likely to be embarrassing for the U.S. because it will underscore just how isolated our government is following the president’s destructive decision to renege on the JCPOA.

Mark Leon Goldberg notes that Iranian President Rouhani will be able to speak at the meeting:

President Trump is chairing a security council meeting on Iran.

Rouhani will be able to speak at this meeting, according to the bylaws of the Security Council.

This should be interesting…

— Mark Leon Goldberg (@MarkLGoldberg) September 4, 2018

Rouhani is under significant pressure at home, thanks in no small part to the U.S. violation of the nuclear deal and subsequent reimposition of sanctions, so he will have every incentive to take a very firm line in opposition to whatever Trump says and does. Trump will presumably be trying to cajole the Security Council into taking more punitive action against Iran, but this is sure to fail because of Russian and Chinese and other members’ opposition. The meeting will likely turn into a propaganda coup for Iran’s government if the U.S. proposes a resolution to condemn or sanction Iran and that resolution is then soundly defeated.