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Iran, the Nuclear Program, and Trump 2.0

The Trump Administration faces questions - and stark choices - about dealing with a weakened Iran

Iran, the Nuclear Program, and Trump 2.0

People walk past a drawing of the Statue of Liberty and other visuals on walls in the Iranian capital, Tehran on January 21, 2025. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

As the second Trump Administration took office, it found a Middle East landscape that had been transformed dramatically in the last year alone. Nowhere is that change felt more profoundly than in Iran, which finds its power and influence in the region reduced – most notably, its ability to use its so-called “ring of fire” of militant groups to threaten Israel. The two most potent elements in that “ring” – the armies of Hamas and Hezbollah – are now shadows of what they were before the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and the Israeli wars against both groups that followed. 

That altered landscape has analysts and policymakers focused increasingly on the one element of Iranian power that has actually been strengthened – its nuclear program – and it has left the U.S. facing profound questions in terms of its policy towards Iran.

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