Uh oh. US President Donald J, Trump has reportedly fired a "slew of pro-Israel officials in America First 'course correction,'" and that "Trump is looking for an Iran dove to take over as Middle East chief at National Security Council, while pushing for nuclear deal," according to Middle East Eye.
The threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions, however, is no longer a distant concern — it is a rapidly escalating crisis with the most severe and immediate implications for Israel, the oil-rich Sunni Arab Gulf States, and North and South America. Trump appears to be scurrying to back down from "or there will be "all hell to pay," and is possibly on the verge of letting Iran keep its uranium-enrichment centrifuges. Not an option.
Iran uses it centrifuges to enrich uranium to high levels. Highly enriched uranium is needed only for nuclear weapons. No highly enriched uranium, no nuclear bombs. Even one uranium-enrichment centrifuge in Iran's possession is a nuclear weapon waiting to happen.
If the US Congress could please pass a bill as soon as possible preventing the US from allowing centrifuges in Iran, it would be an enormous benefit to US and global security.
Meanwhile, America's enemies -- Russia, China, North Korea and Venezuela -- are waiting to see if the US actually has any real backbone before deciding if it is safe for them to go on offense again.
While Western nations thousands of miles away continue to treat Iran's nuclear program as a remote diplomatic puzzle, Israel, a sovereign nation and the only democracy in the Middle East (just as Ukraine is a democracy, and what Russia really cannot tolerate) is forced to live every hour aware of Iran's open, repeated and proud intentions to "wipe" it off the map. Iran has repeatedly called for "Death to Israel."
Iran's regime, through its proxies -- Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, as well as direct Iranian ballistic missile attacks last year -- has acted of that intent.
Iran's regime has also made no secret of its calls for "Death to America."
Iranian official Ayatollah Ahmad Khatemi announced in March 2025:
"America and the European troika of Germany, France, and England... We are telling you very clearly, the [Iranian] people are telling you that if you do not stop your threats, the great Iranian people – through its resistance – will wipe you off the face of history and politics.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has straightforwardly stated in 2023, "When you chant 'Death to America!' it is not just a slogan – it is a policy," apparently with plans to assassinate presidential candidate Trump in 2024, as well as several senior US officials and a journalist.
In addition to repeated vows of "Death to America," the Islamic Republic of Iran has made its genocidal ambitions toward Israel a cornerstone of its ideological identity. Khamenei has been refreshingly clear: "Israel will not see the next 25 years."
In 2012, then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad labeled Israel a "cancerous tumor," and famously called for it to be "wiped" off the earth.
These statements have been echoed by generals in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who vowed to "annihilate" Israel. IRGC commander Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami vowed, "planning to break America, Israel, and their partners and allies. Our ground forces should cleanse the planet from the filth of their existence."
This is not exactly the language of diplomacy — it is the language of genocide and war.
That Israel was previously excluded from crucial negotiations over Iran's nuclear program for the Obama administration's 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) "nuclear deal" was not only an insult but a catastrophic blunder. The most endangered nation was not at the table. The result? A disastrous deal that gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief, while leaving its nuclear infrastructure largely intact. That gift to Iran was accompanied by then President Barack Obama's promises of nuclear weapons for Iran, conveniently "not on my watch" but after it – in fact, this coming October.
The West negotiated from a position of delusion, treating Iran as if it were a misunderstood power rather than a regime with rapacious, blood-curdling goals. Meanwhile, a dismissed Israel had to watch the entire process from the sidelines — its warnings ignored by foreign bureaucrats with no skin in the game.
The latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has made it clear that Iran is not just enriching uranium to weapons-grade — it is rapidly moving toward a nuclear bomb, if it has not already succeeded in acquiring one. This week, the IAEA announced that Iran had enough highly enriched uranium for 10 nuclear weapons, and is doubtless stalling for time to rebuild its air defenses, which Israel struck last October.
Negotiations with Tehran nevertheless continue, led by Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer who was rescued from a bad $523 million business deal by Qatar, which, purely by coincidence, happens to an ally of Hamas and Iran.
The horrific October 7, 2023 massacre by Hamas — backed, funded, and trained by Iran — was not a stand-alone slaughter. It was part of a broader Iranian strategy to destabilize, terrorize, and ultimately destroy both Israel and America.
If the world is serious about preventing World War III— and a nuclear-armed Iran could trigger exactly that, complete with international nuclear arms races — there are only two acceptable paths forward. The first is what is often referred to as the "Libyan model" — a complete dismantlement of Iran's entire nuclear program, including all centrifuges, enrichment capabilities, infrastructure and weaponization research, with full "anytime, anywhere" inspections – to which Iran has never agreed and which it does not appear particularly eager to agree to now.
The second path is, well, to dismantle Iran's nuclear program for them, by force.
This is not warmongering — it is the last resort when diplomacy fails and survival is on the line. Israel and the US have every right to defend themselves – and the region – against a regime that openly seeks their extermination.
Anything less would be another Obama type of fraud. At the moment, Iran has, as usual, been deploying its delay tactics most expertly, presumably in the hope of outlasting or outfoxing the US. Trump appears trying to be contorting himself into anything to avoid confronting Iran militarily. Trump's backing down is precisely what Iran must be counting on.
Unfortunately, Trump has repeatedly given Iran reason to bet on that. First, Trump told Hamas in January that they had to deliver all the hostages or "all hell will break out." When Hamas did nothing of the kind, Trump's dramatic response was -- nothing. Even better, Trump seemed to "throw Israel under the bus." How perfect!
Then, on March 7, Trump sent Khamenei a letter saying that Iran had two months to dismantle its nuclear program... Hmm. It is now June and Iran has been enriching more uranium than ever. No wonder Iran's regime assumes it is holding a royal straight flush.
There is no middle ground that works. Any deal that allows Iran to maintain its centrifuges is an enrichment program about to break out. It is also a reward for deception. Iran has lied repeatedly to international inspectors, violated multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and built covert nuclear sites for decades. Giving Iran billions in sanctions relief while letting them keep their bomb-making war machine is not diplomacy — it is a betrayal of the West.
Iran's rulers believe that, with nuclear weapons, they would be untouchable — able to carry out attacks or threaten to, fund terror, and blackmail the world with impunity. At the top of Iran's hit list are Israel and the US. Iran's regime saw what happened to Libya's Muammar Qaddafi when he gave up his nuclear arsenal. Iran's regime saw what happened when Ukraine, thanks to the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 – signed by Ukraine, Russia and the US – gave up its nuclear arsenal. The lesson they surely learned was: No nukes, no power. Iran will not voluntarily give up what it must see as its insurance policy for ruling Iran forever.
When it comes to the Iranian nuclear threat, Israel does not just understand the stakes — it lives them. Any deal made without Israel's acquiescence is not only illegitimate — it is worthless. Its voice is not optional, it is indispensable. Trump would do the world a favor to end Iran's nuclear weapons program for once and for all — and let Israel in.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
