In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.For weeks now, we’ve been hearing that the United States and Iran are on the verge of a deal in which the clerics will agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire continuation that would allow for more negotiations over the fate of nuclear weapons.We’ve now been negotiating over the parameters of more negotiations longer than the entire military operation lasted.
The question is, why is the U.S., after delivering an unprecedented military victory against the regime, allowing the mullahs to make demands as if they were on equal footing? And why does President Donald Trump keep giving in to those demands?
We don’t need a deal with Iran. We need the regime to surrender or collapse. If the president isn’t willing to accomplish that goal, walking away would be far preferable to striking another Barack Obama-esque deal, which seems to be where we’re headed. Not only would such a deal end up empowering clerics to restart their nuclear weapons program, retrench, and rearm, but it would restrain Israel and the Gulf States from acting.
