The situation seemed promising and the meeting resulted in a pledge made by North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un to close down the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site before the end of the month.

The new Secretary of State to Trump’s administration, Mike Pompeo, has already been to North Korea and after meeting Kim Jong-un he said that it looks like there is a real possibility of Washington coming to an agreement with Pyongyang to halt its nuclear testing. It is expected that US President Donald Trump will visit North Korea imminently.

This leaves the Iran nuclear threat. In 2015, Iran, France, Britain, Germany, the United States, China, Russia and the rest of the EU negotiated the infamous nuclear deal. It was controversial at the time and it remains just as controversial now.

Trump has criticised the deal for being weak and vowed to scrap it. Others, especially a number of European leaders, are saying that the weak deal is better than having no deal in place. Trump disagrees and he has said that he will make a decision about the deal’s future by 12th May when he will ratify, or decline to ratify, its continuance.

Trump has made it clear that he has major doubts about Iran’s compliance. Iran pleads innocence, but at the same time refuses to let inspectors access suspect sites.

The developments in the Koreas will perhaps change the course of events. Trump and the international community put pressure on North Korea and it ended up with only China as an ally. The North Korean dictator finally got Trump’s message that he was serious. The international community stood behind Trump and Kim Jong-un was made to realise that its amassing of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons will not be tolerated. The pressure, unity and perseverance from the international community was what made the North Korean leader realise that threats and confrontation are a waste of time.

However, the lack of unity and coherence from the international community with regards to Iran makes this threat different. Yet the leaders of Iran can take a lesson from the North Korea situation – that is, the United States has a great strength in the international community.

Iran is getting more and more isolated and with a little more pressure it too can realise that it is a futile task to keep pushing back against the United States.

Trump has made it very clear that Iran’s belligerence in the Middle East, its meddling in the internal affair of other nations, its abuse of human rights at home, its support of terrorism, and so on, will not be tolerated. The Iranian regime would be wise to realise that he is not going to change his mind.