The Threat Posed By Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions And The Rapidly Escalating Crisis

Is Trump ‘Going Wobbly’ on Iran?

Majid Rafizadeh

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.

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.

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.