WTH is Going On in the Negotiations With Iran? Elliott Abrams Explains

Following a surprise Oval Office announcement by President Trump
during Bibi Netanyahu’s trip to Washington, the United States has
once again restarted negotiations with Iran over its nuclear
weapons program. Thanks to Israeli attacks on Iranian air
defenses and its proxies, coupled with crippling U.S. sanctions,
Iran has never been weaker and America has never had more
leverage over the Islamic Republic. However, Iran’s nuclear
program is also significantly larger and more advanced than it
was in 2015 or throughout the first Trump administration. What
should Trump demand in a new nuclear deal with Iran? And is the
administration’s current approach a recipe for success, or are
they being played by the Ayatollah?


Elliott Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at
the Council on Foreign Relations, the Chairman of the Tikvah
Fund, and the Chairman of the Vandenberg Coalition. He previously
served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national
security advisor in the administration of President George W.
Bush, where he supervised U.S. policy in the Middle East for the
White House, and as Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela
in Donald Trump’s first administration. His most recent book is
If You Will It: Rebuilding Jewish Peoplehood for the 21st Century
(Wicked Son, 2024).


Read the transcript here.


Subscribe to our Substack here.