Trump Gives Iran’s Leaders Some Limited Breathing Room

The US president looks like he will hold off attacking the Islamic Republic for now after the two countries said nuclear talks in Geneva were positive.

By Paul Wallace

Unless he’s calling Tehran’s bluff, US President Donald Trump looks like he will hold off attacking Iran, at least for the next two weeks.

The two countries both said yesterday’s nuclear talks in Geneva were positive. The next step is for Iran to send the Americans detailed proposals to address sticking points. There will then be a third round of negotiations to hash those out.

For all the positivity, the White House made clear that strikes are not off the table and it knows reaching a deal with the Islamic Republic — an adversary to the US for almost 50 years — will be anything but easy.

“The president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through,” Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, told Fox News after the Swiss discussions ended.

Trump, who’s gearing up for tricky mid-term elections this year, faces plenty of risks if he chooses to bomb Iran.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened a regional war, and he has the capability to target American bases in the Middle East, Israel and US allies such as Saudi Arabia. Oil traders, already nervous, would push prices higher.

...and these are Iran’s major nuclear facilities and the role each one plays in the fuel cycle

Yet Trump has amassed huge firepower himself in the region since last month’s protests in Iran, which triggered the latest tensions. And he’s sending a second aircraft carrier to give himself even more options.

The US leader continues to ratchet up pressure on Tehran and days ago said that regime change “would be the best thing that could happen.”

Last week, Trump hosted Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, with the Israeli prime minister clearly concerned about a deal he doubts Iran would stick to.

For now, Trump looks sincere in trying to give the talks a chance. But he’s wary of Iran dragging them out and he won’t give Khamenei much time to reach an agreement.