The question on diplomacy by bullying: Is it working?

Six weeks ago, the president announced that he is cutting off all aid - about $500 million - to the three Northern Triangle countries - Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. He complained that they were not doing enough to stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. southern border.

In the past 10 days, the president announced that he is deploying a carrier battle group and a bomber squadron to the Middle East to signal to Iran that any moves against U.S. personnel in the region will be met with force. Multiple reports indicate that there is a roiling debate inside the White House and throughout the security community as to what Iran is doing and how the U.S. should respond.

In both cases, the moves are consistent with the coercive diplomacy favored by the president. Sanctions, tariffs, threats, aid cutoffs and critics would say bluster and bullying are all part of this toolbox and the target could be a foe or a friend (see threats to withdraw from NATO or steel and aluminum tariffs against our European allies).

The tools are not unique to this president. Former Secretary of State George Schultz reminded us that the military is "the umbrella under which we conduct our diplomacy." Sanctions are preferable to force, though are ineffective if everyone isn't on board.

At the end of the day, the question to be asked by the American people is "does it work?" Has the president chosen the appropriate tools for the job, or is it a matter of "when all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail"?

Ten days ago, more than 100 members of Congress - Republicans and Democrats - wrote a letter to Secretary of State Pompeo urging him to restore the aid to the Northern Triangle countries. They remind us that this aid is not given directly to those governments, but to American NGOs with long experience in the region and the aid is already conditional.

The three governments must fulfill their part of the bargain to get the funding for programs that promote the rule of law, fight poverty and try to counter human and narcotics trafficking - all at the root of the surge of families to the U.S. Consider that Latin America has eight percent of the world's population but 33 percent of its murders. The murder rate in Honduras is 17 times that of the U.S. Are we surprised that people grab their children and show up on our doorstep?

In the case of Iran, the administration has been ratcheting up pressure on the regime by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, restoring sanctions and branding Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Iran has responded by branding U.S. personnel in the region as terrorists and announcing that it will stop observing some of the provisions in the nuclear deal. All this has increased tensions. We have seen this movie before. In 1988, the U.S.S. Vincennes mistakenly shot down an Iranian commercial airliner killing all 290 aboard during another tense period.

With Russian advisers in Venezuela and a surge of Chinese investment and involvement in Latin America alongside a rise in authoritarian populism, is America's best move disengagement?

And while the president has suggested that Iran can relieve the pressure by coming to the negotiating table, Secretary Pompeo has laid out a set of concessions that Iran must meet before such talks could even start. Few believe Iranian leaders are prepared to make such concessions, especially when there is no trust and the hard-liners in the regime are ascendant.

Former Deputy Secretary of State William Burns in his recent book "Back Channel" explained that the Iranians would not have even agreed to talk about their nuclear program if they thought the ultimate American goal was regime change. Once an atmosphere of trust was created and they compartmentalized the nuclear program, progress was possible.

"My way or the highway" rarely works in international relations but progress is possible if the perfect does not become the enemy of the good.

Keith Peterson, of Lake Barrington, served 29 years as a press and cultural officer for the United States Information Agency and Department of State. He was chief editorial writer of the Daily Herald 1984-86.