Since I’m a big fan of Apple TV’s terrific spy thriller, Tehran, from watching the third season of this Israeli production I know that the fanatical clerics who control Iran have been seeking a nuclear weapon. That’s obvious from both the fictional plot of Tehran, and the reality of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Virtually nobody in the world wants to see the wacko Islamist fundamentalist rulers of Iran get a nuclear bomb. Back when Obama was president, a treaty was reached with Iran that prevented Iran from enriching uranium to the level needed for a bomb.
Since the treaty was working well and made a lot of sense, naturally Trump tore it up when he won the presidency in 2016 — because Trump almost always does the wrong thing, then has to fix the problem he created.
That’s why Trump ordered our military to attack Iran’s key nuclear sites in June 2025: to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon that they already were prevented from doing before Trump trashed the treaty that kept Iran in check.
The Trump White House bristled at suggestions that the attack, which used gigantic “bunker buster” bombs, wasn’t a complete success. A White House web page listed numerous statements touting the effectiveness of the attack. For example:
President Trump: “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term! The white structure shown is deeply imbedded into the rock, with even its roof well below ground level, and completely shielded from flame. The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!”
Israel Atomic Energy Commission: “The devastating US strike on Fordo destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable. We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years. The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir: “I can say here that the assessment is that we significantly damaged the nuclear program, and I can also say that we set it back by years, I repeat, years.”
So it’s decidedly strange that after an attack eight months ago that supposedly “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,” a key Trump administration official, Steve Witkoff, said recently that Iran is just a week away from having industrial-grade bomb making material. Something doesn’t add up.
Either the Trump administration lied last June about how effective the strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites were, or the Trump administration is lying now about how close Iran is to getting a nuclear bomb. Of course, both lies could be true, given how often Trump and his cronies lie (continually).
The United States military buildup in the Middle East has been immense. It sure looks like Trump is preparing for war against Iran, though it is possible that all that weaponry is being used to put pressure on Iran to agree to a deal to replace the one Trump tore up in his first term. A New York Times story about the negotiations taking place in Geneva says:
According to two Iranian diplomats and a Western diplomat familiar with the details of the talks on Thursday who spoke on the condition they not be named because they were not authorized to talk about the negotiations, the United States demanded that Iran permanently shut down its three underground nuclear facilities — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — which are capable of producing industrial-scale enriched uranium.
The United States bombed and badly damaged the three facilities in June during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, bringing Iran’s nuclear program to a halt. Mr. Trump has said the bunker bombs dropped in that operation “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program and destroyed the facilities. But others in the U.S. government have been more cautious, saying the operation set back the nuclear program, perhaps for years.
But Mr. Trump argued on Tuesday that Iran was seeking to revive its program, at new sites, and that it was seeking to build an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the United States. Both of those statements, experts said, were not grounded in facts or made the Iranian progress since June sound far more imminent than it really is.
During the talks, the American negotiators said they were open to the idea that Iran might still use Tehran’s aging reactor facility, which is above the ground and can be easily monitored, for research purposes, according to the Western diplomat. Washington was willing to give only gradual and modest sanctions relief to Iran, a potentially deal-breaking position, Iranian officials and the Western diplomat said. Iranian officials have said that they want significant sanctions relief on international banking and oil sales in exchange for concessions.
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