President Trump’s Iran statements ‘a deadly game of brinkmanship’, Lord Robertson tells London Conference
News release
jon.wallace
19 June 2025
Fading trust in international rules-based order was a common point of discussion at annual conference with the theme ‘Rewriting the rules of the world’.
The Israel–Iran war and its implications for US foreign policy dominated Chatham House’s London Conference, the annual event that brings together policymakers, businesspeople, and experts on international affairs. Shifting global allegiances and power dynamics informed many of the discussions at the day-long gathering at the St. Pancras London, Autograph Collection hotel.
The two keynote speakers brought different perspectives on the Israel–Iran war. In the opening session former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson told Chatham House Director Bronwen Maddox:
Lord Robertson speaks at the London Conference.
‘One feature will be the…US president’s decision and we await to see what that’s going to be. And that will shift the places on the chess board quite dramatically, irrespective of the way it goes.
‘And it would appear at the moment that he is involved in a deadly game of brinkmanship, using the same skills that he had as a property developer. But this is not, you know, the plan for a condominium in the centre of New York, you know, this is the future stability of the world.’
Later, former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers said he believed that that US should bomb Iran’s deep nuclear sites, such as Fordow, that Israel could not reach, but that President Trump should not seek regime change.
‘I think the Americans should frankly get on with it and get it over with. A, it reduces the chance of the Iranians shipping out more and more kit from Fordow and other sites into places where they can store it safely, and they will certainly have those options, I think.
John Sawers discusses the possibility of US involvement in Iran.
‘And secondly, it gives a chance to say to the Israelis, look, we’ve now destroyed everything that we know of on the nuclear side, stop going for regime change, it’s just going to create total chaos inside Iran if you do that.’
Lt General Ben Hodges, speaking about the war on another panel, said:
‘The biggest risk is if the president fails to clearly identify the strategic outcome that we want to accomplish. I mean – the United States has not done this – we didn’t do it in Iraq, we didn’t do it in Afghanistan, we still have not clearly identified the strategic outcome for Ukraine.
‘And if you don’t have a clearly defined objective, it’s very difficult to have good policy. So dropping a bunker buster on this Fordow mountain, that’s a policy decision, that’s not a strategy.’
In a following session, Steve Tsang, Director, SOAS China Institute, said US intervention against Iran could undermine it and the international liberal order in favour of China.
‘The US will have demonstrably done something to hugely undermine if not destroy the liberal international order,’ he said.
Discussion of the Israel–Iran war informed exploration of many other international policy areas where the Trump administration’s approach is rewiring the global order across trade, development, European security and climate change.
