Opinions

Trump Offers Iran an Option to Avoid War: Choose the Easy Way or the Hard Way


Winston Churchill is often quoted for saying, “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.”

We’ll soon find out if Iran concurs.

The upcoming discussions scheduled for Saturday between Iran and the United States represent a critical measure of the intentions of Iran’s leadership. If their goal is the relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons, conflict becomes unavoidable.

This conflict would involve Israel and likely the United States as well, meaning Iran would be contending with both the Little Satan and the Great Satan at the same time.

That’s what the radical mullahs have always claimed they desired. If they haven’t grasped the enormity of this mistake yet, they will soon come to that realization.

President Trump recently stated, “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”

There’s nothing subtle about that!

A Deal or Destruction

The President, while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, revealed the planned weekend talks and stated, “I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious.”

“The obvious is not something I want to be involved with, nor does Israel want to be involved with if it can be avoided,” he continued. “So we’ll see if we can avoid it…It’s getting to be very dangerous territory.”

These talks, which are set to occur in Oman, will be direct negotiations, although Iran has since claimed they will be “indirect,” suggesting the involvement of a mediator.

Regardless, Trump’s stance is crystal clear: Iran must dismantle its nuclear program, rather than merely pretending to comply with restrictions and inspections intended to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.

These were the dominant terms of the 2015 agreement that Barack Obama and European leaders put together, which Trump judiciously canceled during his first term due to its lack of robust verification measures and penalties.

Because Iran was violating nearly every aspect of the deal and engaging in deception with inspectors, there was no way to accurately ascertain their true activities.


Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waving to the crowd during a meeting in Tehran, Iran
Trump canceled the 2015 deal with Iran during his first term due to insufficient verification and penalty measures. AP

Moreover, Iran was using billions of dollars released by Obama to fuel both its nuclear ambitions and its terror operations. This is a classic case of a lose-lose situation. Of course, Joe Biden mistakenly sought to reverse Trump’s actions by enticing Iran back into another lax agreement, even lifting or ceasing enforcement of oil and banking sanctions in an attempt to make the deal more attractive.

He also allegedly paid $6 billion for the release of five American hostages.

In exchange, he received absolutely nothing, highlighting his ineptitude on the world stage. Thanks primarily to his chaotic and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, adversaries like Iran no longer feared him.

Military Options

Israel, unfortunately, endured the devastating Hamas invasion while Biden was in office, yet Biden was tougher on Israel than on Iran, despite Iran’s role in funding and training Hamas. Fortunately, Trump’s election has turned the tide in the Middle East.

American leadership has returned, and it is resolute.

Last year, federal prosecutors charged that Iran devised a plot and hired an assassin to eliminate Trump.

As a result, in February, the president remarked, “I’ve left instructions that if they attempt it, they will be obliterated. Nothing will remain.”

He said this while signing an executive order mandating the government to implement “maximum pressure” on Iran, including rigorous enforcement of sanctions.

Trump also gained a significant military advantage: Israel has transformed the region’s military landscape.

Its continued bombardment of Gaza has essentially diminished Hamas as a significant threat, and Israel has also reduced Hezbollah to merely a shadow of its former self.

What began with the extraordinary operation that caused Hezbollah’s communications to fail has led to the destruction of most of the terror group’s substantial infrastructure in Lebanon.

Moreover, Iran has lost an ally and operational bases with the downfall of the brutal Assad regime in Syria. Its former top general recently indicated in a speech in a Tehran mosque, “I don’t consider losing Syria something to be proud of. We were defeated, and it was a significant setback. It has been extremely tough,” according to a translation by The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Trump is targeting the Houthis, another Iranian proxy, with extensive bombing campaigns in Yemen.

Fox News reports that six B-2 stealth bombers have been deployed to a base in the Indian Ocean, engaging Houthi targets with bunker-buster munitions, our most powerful non-nuclear bombs designed for underground installations like munitions depots.

This base is well within striking range of Iran, which has concealed some of its key nuclear sites deep within mountain ranges. Any strike on those facilities would likely require the use of bunker-busters and B-2 bombers to be successful.

Israel does not possess these enormous 30,000-pound bombs or any aircraft suitable for deploying them.

Air Defenses Weak

A significant development is the severe degradation of Iran’s military capabilities, with Israel having destroyed the majority of its air defense systems. Following Israel’s audacious assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, the mullahs tried to appear retaliatory but ultimately hesitated to engage directly in combat, fully aware of their regime’s vulnerabilities.

Despite Trump’s longstanding relationship with Netanyahu, the Israeli leader was reportedly caught off guard by the president’s announcement regarding the weekend discussions during their meeting.

Netanyahu publicly stated, “We’re both united in the goal that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons. If this can be achieved diplomatically, in a comprehensive manner, much like it was done in Libya, I consider that a positive outcome, but it must be halted by any means necessary.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in confirming the Oman meeting, remarked, “The ball is in America’s court.”

His government has always denied pursuing a nuclear weapon; however, it is widely believed that they have elevated their uranium enrichment to 60% purity, which has no peaceful application within the realm of energy production.

Consequently, its claims of using the enriched uranium solely for civilian purposes lack credibility, especially considering its refusal to allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites.

When asked on Monday if he’s serious about the possibility of military action to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program should the discussions fall short, Trump reinforced his determination for a favorable resolution and the ramifications if the mullahs choose to ignore the situation.

“Iran will be in great danger… and I hate to say it. Great danger.”

“It’s not a complicated formula,” he added. “Iran cannot possess a nuclear weapon. If the negotiations fail, it’ll be a very bad day for Iran.”

That’s a leader with a plan.



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