Biden Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: October

Trend Overview

Edited by David Adesnik and John Hardie

Welcome back to the Biden Administration Foreign Policy Tracker. Once a month, we ask FDD’s experts and scholars to assess the administration’s foreign policy. They provide trendlines of very positive, positive, neutral, negative, or very negative for the areas they watch.

Iran has erupted in protest after morality police inflicted fatal injuries on 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest for alleged violation of dress code laws. At the United Nations, President Joe Biden said he stands with “the brave women of Iran,” yet his administration continues to pursue a nuclear deal that would offer hundreds of billions of dollars in sanctions relief to the clerical regime in Tehran. Neither the regime’s deceptive response to Amini’s death nor Tehran’s stonewalling of nuclear inspectors seems to have led the White House to the realization that trusting the clerical regime only increases instability and oppression.

By contrast, the administration is siding firmly with the victims of Moscow’s invasion and atrocities. In September, a Ukrainian counteroffensive — enabled in part by U.S. military assistance — stunned both Moscow and foreign observers with its rapid liberation of Russian-held territory. Washington’s support for Kyiv remained steadfast even as Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun to rattle his nuclear saber. Regarding China, Biden’s impulse is apparently to guarantee the security of Taiwan amid Beijing’s intimidation, yet the White House staff once again walked back his comments in support of Taipei.

Please check back next month to see if the administration has moved toward a more consistent policy of aligning with democratic partners against authoritarian aggression.