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Trump Should Oppose an Interim Nuclear Deal That Lets Iran Off the Hook

Iran’s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad met with Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in Moscow on April 24, 2025. Photo: Screenshot

“We’ll have something without having to start dropping bombs all over the place,” President Donald Trump declared on Monday.

The United States and Iran are set to meet for a fourth round of nuclear talks on Saturday, where the Trump administration aims to reach a deal to dismantle Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. The Islamic Republic will surely try tempting Washington to reach a so-called “interim” agreement, which could see Tehran cap its nuclear threat — albeit temporarily and superficially. The president should reject such a proposal.

Tehran might offer to limit its enriched uranium stockpile and reduce the purity level of this stock, while accepting some additional international monitoring. This would fundamentally leave intact the regime’s nuclear weapons capabilities — including advanced centrifuge-powered nuclear fuel production assets, covert efforts to construct nuclear devices, and intercontinental, nuclear-tipped ballistic missile delivery efforts.

Thus, an interim deal would fail to fulfill Trump’s, and his administration’s, repeated demands that Tehran dismantle its nuclear weapons capabilities. Much like the 2015 Obama nuclear accord with Iran — which Trump previously opposed due to its failure to block all the regime’s pathways to atomic weapons — an interim deal would also relieve pressure on Tehran just as President Trump has started rebuilding it.

In February, Trump reimposed maximum US pressure against Iran, which was in place during his first term. In March, he demanded Tehran negotiate restrictions over its nuclear program within 60 days, or face US and Israeli military strikes against its nuclear facilities. Those actions, as well as the president’s credible military build-up in the region and campaign to degrade Iran’s key proxies like the Houthis in Yemen, succeeded in bringing Iran to the negotiating table. In April, after initially refusing, Tehran participated in the first direct talks between the countries in years.

What could an interim deal that derails the president’s goals look like? The 2013 interim nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA), preceded the fuller 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and provides insight into what such an accord could entail. 

While the JPOA required Tehran refrained from new advancements at its three uranium enrichment facilities and heavy water nuclear reactor, which provides a plutonium pathway to the bomb, those facilities remained intact. Although the regime permitted the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to enhance its monitoring and inspections, Tehran was not required to explain its past and possibly ongoing atomic weapons work. 

Under the JPOA, Iran halted enrichment of uranium over five percent purity but retained its stockpile of the material, while diluting half its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium. Retaining the ability to enrich uranium to five percent purity meant Tehran was still more than 70 percent of the way to making weapons-grade uranium.

Troublingly, Iran also showed it could succeed in extorting the West for massive sanctions relief. The JPOA provided the regime with the repatriation of $4.2 billion in assets seized abroad for its malign activities, as well as the ability to export precious metals, petrochemicals, and automotive goods. Before the JPOA, Tehran’s economy was reeling under Western economic pressure, but the deal, and then the 2015 JCPOA, provided more relief in return for limited and easily reversible Iranian concessions.

Today, Iran seeks similar relief as breathing room against growing domestic and economic pressure and possible US-Israeli military strikes against its nuclear facilities. The regime’s endgame has not changed: deflect pressure, buy time, and refine and maintain destructive nuclear and military capabilities. 

In addition, an interim deal today would make a mere dent in Tehran’s nuclear weapons capabilities, which advanced precipitously under President Biden’s policy of maximum deference to the regime.

Iran has now enriched uranium to 60 percent — putting it days from 90 percent purity, which is weapons-grade — and can fuel more than 17 nuclear weapons. It has installed more than 13,000 advanced centrifuges and secreted away numerous machines. Only a few hundred of these fast-enriching centrifuges are needed to make weapons-grade uranium at a secret site. The regime also restricted IAEA monitoring and ejected inspectors from key nuclear sites. 

Tehran is reportedly carrying out weaponization-related work and has a team looking to short-cut the regime’s route to nuclear weapons. It has dramatically advanced its nuclear missile-delivery program, nearing the capability to make long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike the United States.

 To be sure, not all is lost — Iran is not yet nuclear weapons-armed — but Washington must bring much more to bear than a temporary fix.

Iran’s aging supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his regime are under severe pressure at home, facing droughts, water shortages, social and political unrest, inflation, and currency devaluation. Trump’s team must seize this opportunity to achieve a maximalist accord that permanently removes Iran’s nuclear threat.

To do so, Washington must insist on nothing less than the full, verifiable, and permanent dismantlement of all three pillars of Iran’s nuclear program — including its nuclear fuel production and assets, weaponization, and missile-delivery work. If Tehran refuses, the president should consider following through on his threat of military strikes, double down on sanctions, and support the Iranian people in their quest for freedom.

Short-term fixes to address Iran’s enduring nuclear threat have failed — it’s time for the president to deliver a lasting solution.

Andrea Stricker is a research fellow and deputy director of the Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Follow her on X @StrickerNonpro. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.

The post Trump Should Oppose an Interim Nuclear Deal That Lets Iran Off the Hook first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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