Two Leaders, Two Quagmires

The unravelling of America’s Iran policy began with a single act of demolition. When Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May 2018, he dismantled a framework that — whatever its imperfections — had extended Iran’s nuclear breakout time from two to three months to well over a year. The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation estimated that, after the US withdrawal, the breakout time would collapse to just a couple of weeks. The deal was gone; the danger was not. What replaced it was a posture dressed up as strategy: “maximum pressure,” a campaign that squeezed Tehran while simultaneously narrowing Washington’s own options. Iran’s proximity to a nuclear weapons capability gradually increased, and the Trump administration’s […]