January 22, 2025 | The Wall Street Journal

How Trump Can Counter Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

If hard-line diplomacy doesn’t work, he’ll likely need to let Israel bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.
January 22, 2025 | The Wall Street Journal

How Trump Can Counter Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

If hard-line diplomacy doesn’t work, he’ll likely need to let Israel bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Excerpt

Will Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei agree to nuclear negotiations with President Trump? According to the Justice Department, the cleric’s minions tried to assassinate Mr. Trump during the campaign. But given the Islamic Republic’s precarious standing in the Middle East, its ever-worsening economy tied to a collapsing currency and shortages of energy and gas, and a foreboding among many regime loyalists about their grip on Iranian society, Mr. Khamenei might be willing to make compromises in his nuclear aspirations in return for softened U.S. sanctions. After all, he has already made Iran a nuclear-threshold state.

The more important question: If Mr. Trump agrees to nuclear negotiations with Iran, how will he approach them? Will he firmly deny Iran the capacity to enrich uranium and retain deeply buried centrifuge facilities and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles? Will he demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency inspect all suspected nuclear sites in Iran and have access to all nuclear-related paperwork and personnel? Will he insist on all the things Barack Obama should have demanded but didn’t when he approved the Iran nuclear agreement in 2015?

Mr. Gerecht, a former Iranian-targets officer in the CIA, is a resident scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Dubowitz is the foundation’s CEO.

Issues:

Issues:

Iran Iran Nuclear Israel Nonproliferation Sanctions and Illicit Finance U.S. Defense Policy and Strategy

Topics:

Topics:

Iran Middle East Barack Obama Donald Trump Islamic republic Ali Khamenei Central Intelligence Agency International Atomic Energy Agency United States Department of Justice