Joksimovic: Situation in Iran one of the reasons for appointing a former colonel as US ambassador to Albania

The situation in Iran may be one of the reasons for the nomination of retired colonel Eric Wendt as US ambassador to Albania, Director of the Center for Foreign Policy in Belgrade Aleksandra Joksimovic says for Kosovo Online.

Joksimovic notes that there is also an impression that Donald Trump appoints far more politically appointed diplomats, that is people close to him, than those with greater diplomatic experience and longer service.

“However, when we speak about Albania, we must take into account one additional circumstance. Looking at the current relations with Iran, that is the crisis with Iran, we must say that Albania is one of the countries that does not have diplomatic relations with Iran. They were severed in 2022 because the United States asked Albania to accept, after leaving Iraq, Iranian mujahideen who act in opposition to Iran, so Iran refers to Albania as a small and malicious country. After a cyberattack on state institutions in Tirana, which was determined to have originated from the Iranian state, diplomatic relations were severed,” Joksimovic said.

She further notes that, in the context of the current situation with Iran, it seems possible that Trump has additionally emphasized the importance of sending such a profile to Tirana.

How this will affect the region and whether the same model will be repeated in other countries is difficult to predict, she says.

“In the region, we currently do not have US ambassadors. You know that in Serbia there was a case where an ambassador had been appointed, but in the meantime he passed away. But when it comes to Albania and the moment in which this ambassador is being appointed, it seems to me that this connection with Iran could be one of the reasons why this is being done at this moment and why a person with military experience is being appointed. Of course, it is difficult to predict whether the same model will be repeated. But I would say there is a tendency to appoint people who are personally close to him, rather than those who come directly from the State Department, that is, people with diplomatic experience,” Joksimovic concluded.

Eric Wendt from California was nominated as Ambassador of the United States to Albania, the White House announced in mid-April.

Retired Lieutenant General Wendt served as an active-duty army officer since 1986. He holds a bachelor’s degree in law and society from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master’s degree in national security from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.