An Obstacle to Reality
As the Trump administration and Iran work through the final details of this agreement, the real obstacle is not the critics in Washington, Jerusalem, or Tehran. The obstacle is reality. The Islamic Republic of Iran has spent more than four decades proving that it cannot be trusted. It lies as a matter of state policy, violates agreements when convenient, funds terrorism across the Middle East, and uses every diplomatic opening to stall and strengthen its position.
Several conservative voices have warned President Trump against trusting Tehran, while hard-liners in Iran oppose any agreement with the United States. Both sides understand what is at stake. Iran is not pursuing this deal out of goodwill; it is pursuing it because sanctions have crippled its economy and access to billions of dollars in frozen assets would provide the regime with a desperately needed financial lifeline.
The agreement initiates a 60-day negotiating period over Iran’s nuclear program, which the United States suspects could be used to develop nuclear weapons. In return, Tehran expects access to billions of dollars currently blocked abroad and relief from sanctions that have severely constrained its economy. If history is any guide, much of that money will not be used to improve the lives of ordinary Iranians. It will be diverted to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, missile development, drone production, and the regime’s regional campaign of destabilization.
President Trump told The Wall Street Journal that the agreement includes an Iranian commitment not to obtain nuclear weapons. Such promises are meaningless coming from a regime that has repeatedly concealed nuclear activities, obstructed inspections, and violated previous commitments. An Iranian promise not to build a nuclear weapon carries about as much value as a three-dollar bill.
Iran is engaged in nuclear-related activities at more than a dozen sites across the country, including uranium enrichment facilities, conversion plants, research centers, and military locations linked to past nuclear weapons work. A nation does not invest decades, tens of billions of dollars, thousands of scientists, and a vast, dispersed infrastructure into such an extensive program simply to generate electricity. The sheer scale, complexity, secrecy, and persistence of Iran’s nuclear enterprise make the claim that it has no interest in developing a nuclear weapon increasingly implausible. At some point, common sense must prevail. No regime commits this level of resources to a nuclear program unless preserving a pathway to a bomb remains one of its central strategic objectives.
Even more troubling was Trump’s apparent lack of urgency regarding Iran’s existing nuclear material. “We’ll get the nuclear dust later on when we’re ready to go in and do it,” he said. “There’s no rush.” There is every reason for urgency. Every day that Iran retains enriched uranium, advanced centrifuges, and nuclear infrastructure is another day it remains closer to a nuclear weapons capability.
Trump’s criticism of Israel was equally concerning. Referring to Israel’s strike in Lebanon, he said, “Bibi shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t like it at all. They [Hezbollah] fired a couple small missiles and missed their mark by a lot.”
But missiles that miss their targets are not acts of peace. They are failed acts of aggression. Hezbollah’s incompetence should not diminish the seriousness of its intent. If a terrorist organization launches missiles at civilian population centers, the issue is not whether the missiles hit their targets this time. The issue is that they were fired at all. Had the missiles landed a few hundred yards differently, Israeli civilians could have been killed.
Israeli officials were surprised when Trump declared that “there should be no more attacks by Israel anywhere in Lebanon.” While he also called on Hezbollah to cease its attacks, the moral equivalence is misplaced. Israel has the right, indeed, the obligation, to defend its citizens. The logic is simple: if an enemy fires missiles at your cities today and misses, you do not wait for them to try again tomorrow. Because next time they may not miss. No nation would tolerate repeated missile attacks on its civilian communities simply because the attackers happened to miss. The United States certainly would not. Nor should Israel.
The problem with dealing with Iran, is that time and time again, it has proven to be a hinderance to achieving a lasting peace and an obstacle to reality.
