President Donald Trump last month reignited the "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, aiming to cripple its nuclear ambitions, ballistic missile program, and sponsorship of terrorism.
His strategy?
Squeeze Tehran’s economy until it buckles — especially by crushing its oil exports.
President Trump isn’t rushing to war.
Rather, he’s dangling an offer to Iran: negotiate the dismantling of your nuclear program or face devastating consequences.
Trump’s security adviser, Mike Waltz, made it clear, "All options are on the table."
Washington will accept nothing less than total nuclear disarmament.
Trump may prefer diplomacy first, but time is running out.
Iran is scrambling to rebuild after Israel’s October 2024 retaliatory strikes on its air defenses and missile capabilities.
The latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report confirms Iran has accelerated production of near-weapons-grade uranium: Yellowcake.
Within a month, it could have enough for multiple nuclear bombs.
The Islamic state’s reach extends far beyond its borders.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxy militias — Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis — have expanded Tehran’s influence across the Mideast and even into Latin America.
Iran is constructing a drone factory in Venezuela and establishing a foothold in Cuba.
Trump believes he can pressure Tehran in ways Biden and Obama never could.
But if Iran engages, history suggests it will use negotiations to buy time — until it reaches nuclear breakout.
Every U.S. attempt at diplomacy has only emboldened the regime, which views negotiations as a Western weakness, a sign that Iran will ultimately win.
For over four decades, U.S. presidents and Western policymakers have clung to the delusion that Iran’s behavior can be altered through diplomacy, economic incentives, or strategic agreements.
Again and again, they have lifted sanctions, funneled cash, and offered Iran reintegration into the global system — only to be met with defiance.
Then-President Barack Obama’s July 14, 2015, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) proved the folly of that approach.
The mullahs exploited negotiations to secure economic relief while continuing their military expansion and nuclear project.
The clerics never abandoned their hostility or goal of becoming a nuclear power.
Why?
Unlike other authoritarian regimes, the Islamic Republic of Iran isn’t driven by pragmatism or conventional power politics. It is a revolutionary state with an uncompromising mission: spreading its Koranic vision globally.
This isn’t a negotiable policy — it’s the foundation of the regime’s existence.
To abandon this mission would be to dismantle itself.
Iran’s constitution enshrines global jihad.
Article 11 mandates the continuation of the Islamic Revolution at home and abroad.
Article 156 asserts Allah’s divine world sovereignty. The regime’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, declared, "We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'There is no god but Allah' resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle."
This is why Iran will never truly compromise.
No sanction relief, no diplomatic deal will alter its core mission.
Its leaders chant "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" because they genuinely believe that the destruction of both is necessary for their global conquest.
The consequences of empowering Iran are already written in blood.
Obama’s and Joe Biden’s policies directly enabled Hamas’s barbaric Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel. That day, Hamas terrorists — funded and armed by Iran — murdered 1,200 Israeli innocent men, women and children.
They raped, tortured, mutilated, and burned their victims alive.
They kidnapped 251 hostages, 59 of whom — dead or alive — remain trapped in Gaza.
That day should have been a wake-up call.
Iran’s response to appeasement isn't moderation.
Iran responds with savagery and aggression.
Concessions don’t weaken its resolve — they embolden it.
History has seen this before.
The world ignored Nazi Germany’s ideological crusade until it was too late.
Adolf Hitler wasn’t merely making strategic military moves — he was fulfilling a radical vision of humankind and global domination.
The world paid in blood for underestimating him.
Ayatollah Khamenei knows that acquiring nuclear weapons is his ace in the hole.
Once he has them, he won’t hesitate to use them in his holy war.
Iran is vulnerable now. Its proxies are weakened.
But this window won’t stay open forever.
The clock is ticking.
Ziva Dahl is a senior fellow with the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. Ziva writes and lectures about U.S.-Israel relations, U.S. foreign policy, Israel, Zionism, Antisemitism and BDS on college campuses. Her articles have appeared in such publications as The Hill, New York Daily News, New York Observer, The Washington Times, American Spectator, American Thinker and Jerusalem Post. Read Ziva Dahl's Reports — More Here.
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