Proliferation

Rather than clearing a route to normalization with Israel, a Saudi nuclear agreement with Washington may be key to addressing Iran’s military nuclear potential and wider proliferation concerns in the region.

The Washington Institute’s director of research testifies on the Trump administration's best means of combining diplomatic, military, and congressional pressure to permanently block Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or reconstituting its damaged regional threat network.

Far from signaling a strong trilateral alliance, their history of often transactional cooperation reveals strategic gaps that Washington can leverage to help curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Should a negotiated deal prove elusive, policymakers will need to consider how to define a successful strike, Iran’s potential responses, and whether a strategy of prevention can be sustained.

Mismatching objectives and means has repeatedly produced failure and undermined consensus, but Washington no longer has the luxury of bad statecraft on pressing issues like Iran’s nuclear program.

If he uses his major regional leverage to curtail the Iranian nuclear threat and end the Gaza war, he will be well-placed to resume other important tasks that have been sitting on the back burner—including Israeli-Saudi normalization.

The Trump administration should give nuclear diplomacy a final shot—while preparing to use military force.

The decision would require tradeoffs affecting the security, survivability, and military credibility of Tehran's nascent arsenal.

The administration should first consider how enhanced sanctions would fit into its broader regional policy before talking about how to get them going again.