Ireland’s Micheal Martin and Trump in awkward St Patrick’s Day exchange
Al Jazeera
Ireland, which took a strong stance on the Gaza genocide, is similarly robust on Iran, but Martin is criticised for passivity.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has met US President Donald Trump during an annual Saint Patrick’s Day visit to Washington, DC, delicately pushing back against the latter’s stances on several issues, from Iran to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The leaders’ sit-down took place at the Oval Office on Tuesday, on a day dominated by the resignation of US counterterrorism chief Joe Kent over the US and Israel’s war on Iran and Trump’s tirade against NATO allies refusing to get on board with military action in the blocked Strait of Hormuz.
The 65-year-old taoiseach – Irish for prime minister – was under political pressure to talk tough to Trump about the war on Iran. But as the Irish Times newspaper noted, he remained “effectively mute” for the first 20 minutes as the US president held forth on a range of grievances, including the resignation of Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center.
Noting Trump’s accusation that NATO had made a “foolish mistake” by not backing the US, the Irish prime minister, whose country is not a NATO member, tried a diplomatic approach.
“I’m sure European leaders and the US administration will engage, and hopefully, we can get a landing zone,” he said, appearing to mean a common ground.
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