NYT blasts Trump’s failed foreign policy for Baghdad embassy attacks --- and warns of more violence

President Donald Trump's deal-making skills will be put to the test in the Middle East -- and The New York Times editorial board is worried he may have negotiated himself into a corner.

"Iran-backed Shiite militias have been firing missiles at American troops and military contractors in Iraq for six months now, and last week they finally killed one of the Americans. On Sunday, the United States retaliated against the militia responsible with five airstrikes in Syria and Iraq that left 24 people dead and dozens wounded," the newspaper wrote in an editorial published Wednesday afternoon.

"Militia commanders vowed vengeance, and thousands of protesters chanting 'Death to America' marched through Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone on Tuesday and broke into the compound of the American Embassy," The Times noted. "A new spiral of violence between the United States and Iran seemed in the making, although demonstrators ended their siege of the embassy on Wednesday."

The newspaper noted that Trump's airstrikes might be just what the Iran-backed militias want.

"Whether the airstrikes will serve as a deterrent, however, is doubtful, since it’s likely that the militias were trying to provoke just such a response," The Times noted.

"Iraq, lacking a functioning government, now finds itself trapped in a fray over which it has little control, compelled by public indignation to denounce the American airstrikes on its territory but loath to lose the American counterbalance to Iran and its proxies," the newspaper explained. "Iran, apart from its political calculations in Iraq, is also struggling under American economic sanctions and would no doubt like to make America’s hostility as costly as possible for the Trump administration."

Trump's withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal has complicated everything.

"After Mr. Trump loudly pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and imposed tough sanctions on Iran, it is hard to see what incentives he could dangle to prevent Iran and its proxies from further complicating the task of American forces in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East," The Times noted. "But by withdrawing from the nuclear deal and painting Iran as the premier evildoer in the Middle East, Mr. Trump and his lieutenants have left little room for dialogue. Far more likely is another provocation by Iran and more intractable entanglement for the United States."

Read the full editorial.