When offered exactly this deal a decade ago, Iran accepted it. There were inspectors and everything.
This exactly. Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal that Iran had accepted and was complying with. Now there is no deal, and nobody has any reason to believe that any deal with the US in any circumstance is worth more than it's potential value as firestarter or toilet paper.
The US does not respect negotiated and ratified treaties. Sure, sometimes they respect treaties, depending on who is in power, but the whole point of treaties is they are supposed to provide a foundation of predictability to people and countries can make plans and make reasonable risk assessments. At present, the US as a state has zero respect for any treaties, anywhere.
Iran, and every other country that might find itself subject to the random wrath or bullying of the USA, has every incentive in the world to get a nuclear bomb as quickly as possible. It is extremely clear that negotiation is utterly, completely pointless with the USA at this time, and in practice at any time. The only rational response is to build effective countermeasures and disincentives, so the US will go bully and bomb someone else instead.
I think that a lot of US-centric people don't really grasp just how badly your international reputation has been damaged. You cannot be trusted, will not respect any agreements you do make, and will randomly attack and bully whoever you want. That is apparently how the US public wants it to be - at least the US leadership - so the rest of us have to look at the situation with clear eyes and make other plans.
You make good points when taken from the perspective of Iran and its nuclear program. But how do you view Iranian leadership in terms of its domestic and broader international behavior?
Iran’s regime is brutal domestically, victimizing its civilian population, especially women, like it was the 1400s. Until very recently the Ayatollah’s regime had funded militias like Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Houthis, and Hezbollah. These groups are essentially Iranian proxies—what’s called the “Axis of Resistance”.
Let’s quickly recap the greatest hits of the Axis in the 21st century:
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Gaza) • Launched thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel, including during major conflicts in 2008-2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021
• Conducted suicide bombings and terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada (2000-2005)
• Built extensive tunnel networks for smuggling weapons and launching attacks
• The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed over 1,200 people and took approximately 240 hostages
• Developed increasingly sophisticated rocket capabilities, including longer-range missiles
Houthis • Seized control of much of Yemen in 2014-2015, leading to ongoing civil war
• Attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea, escalating in late 2023/early 2024
• Targeted U.S. and allied naval vessels in the Red Sea region
Hezbollah • Engaged in the 2006 war with Israel, launching thousands of rockets
• Provided military support to Syrian government forces since 2013
• Conducted or supported terrorist attacks globally
• Significant exchanges of fire on Israel following October 7, 2023
IN ADDITION to the “Axis”, the Ayatollah was a major supporter of Bashir Al Assad in Syria, the Russian puppet. Assad’s rule was characterized by ongoing war crimes, murder, systematic starvation campaigns, brutal imprisonment of political opponents, and the destruction of much of Syria’s infrastructure and society during the prolonged civil war that began in 2011.
OK—so while busy with all this—Iran was ALSO playing the game of the nuclear bomb “threshold state”: having enriched uranium FAR beyond what’s needed for energy production, building underground nuclear facilities, and developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering a bomb—all while continuing the rhetorical campaign of calling for the complete destruction of Israel and “the great satan” America.
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Now, I see Trump as a loudmouth idiot bull in a china shop, so you’ll get no defense of him per se from me. But anyone paying attention to the world in the last few decades knows a defense of Iran as “just playing by the rules” is the height of naïveté voiced by those wearing blinders. The propaganda that leads to such a conclusion is astounding.
In the past 9 months, Israel (with support) devastated Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza and Hezbollah in Syria; Al Assad and his regime fell and the Russian military base is gone; the Houthis have been sidelined by the Americans; Iran’s defenses have been all but eliminated and it’s nuclear program, at a minimum, set back notably.
I understand and honestly appreciate the negative reactions directed at America by people in many countries outside of Russia, China, NK, and Iran. And I am taken by the awful plight of the Palestinians. But the world is a dangerous place so you have to ask yourselves 2 questions:
1. Is the world better off without a powerful Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Al Assad, and nuclear-threshold Iran?
2. If you’re pissed at America for doing the dirty work, but you still need to face all the threats in the world, who will you be aligning yourself with in the future?
