This week on Word on the Street Live, I sat down with Iran experts Nate Swanson and Ari Tabatabai to unpack one of the most remarkable foreign policy reversals in recent memory.
Just a few months ago, the Trump Administration promised sweeping objectives: Regime change, the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program, the dismantling of its missile arsenal and the weakening of its regional proxies. Today, after a costly and deadly war, the administration is defending an agreement that looks strikingly different from what was promised.
As Nate put it, this agreement may be a bad deal, but the war that preceded it was worse.
We explored how the administration’s goals seemed to shrink as the conflict dragged on, why Ari argues this agreement doesn’t come close to the JCPOA, and how Iran may emerge from this war more determined to build a nuclear weapon, not less. We also discussed whether the biggest spoiler to this fragile diplomacy could be Israel, and what Netanyahu’s political gamble on Trump has left him with now.
One question lingered throughout our conversation: If the people who pushed for this war ended up embracing the diplomacy they once condemned, what lessons can we draw from that?
Watch the full conversation and let me know what you think.
