Jonathan S. Tobin
JNS, Apr. 17, 2025
“… what would be the American goal in any negotiations with Iran? Should it be the complete elimination of Iran’s nuclear program or merely an effort to slow down or impose restrictions on the regime’s ability to refine uranium?”
It’s too soon to declare the Trump administration’s policy toward Iran a failure. In time—and perhaps less time than Tehran might think—President Donald Trump may resolve the open debate between members of his foreign-policy team over whether continued efforts at diplomacy are the proper course of action or if military force is needed to stop the Islamist regime from getting a nuclear weapon.
At present, however, the debate going on inside the administration about the issue and the manifest incompetence of his already compromised Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, does not, to understate the matter, inspire much confidence in a good outcome being achieved. The only reason to think otherwise is if you trust the president’s ability to tell the difference between a deal that actually eliminates the Iranian threat and one that won’t, and believe that he’s truly willing to back up his bellicose language with action.
What stands out about the situation is that it appears to be the only major issue on which Trump’s appointees are not speaking with one voice and pursuing a common agenda. And it is that division within its councils that is both preventing a decisive approach and likely causing the Iranian regime to think that it can get away with the same tactics that allowed it to emerge as the victor in past negotiations with the Obama and Biden administrations. …SOURCE