LOS ANGELES.–Iran’s 62-yer-old Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called 79-year-old President Donald Trump to ask Israel to stop its bombing campaign with Iran, already setting back its nuclear enrichment program, but, more importantly, destroying Iran’s missile defense system and ballistic missile warehouses and production facilities. Iran has fought back since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started bombing campaign June 13, firing hundreds of ballistic missiles into Israel, some hitting residential targets destroying property and killing scores of Israelis. But Araghchi calling Trump to ask him to intervene to stop the war is an astonishing development. “If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential,” Araghchi posted on X. Araghchi lead five rounds of negotiations on a new nuke deal.
Before Netanyahu started his bombing campaign, Trump gave Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 60 days to negotiate a new nuke deal where Iran’s nuclear enrichment program would be under U.N.’s IAEA supervision, allowing the U.S. or Russia to buy Iran’s remaining stockpile of 60% enriched Uranium. Trump started negotiations with Iran saying Iran had to stop its uranium program but came to realize that if it’s under IAEA supervision, there’s no longer a threat to Israel, enabling Iran to keep its nuke program. Trump’s Iran envoy Steve Witkoff and Araghchi brainstormed on how Iran could keep enriching uranium while under IAEA supervision, allowing for the U.S. to buy its nuclear stockpile. New U.S. zero carbon nuclear power plants need nuclear fuel, making a perfect quid pro quo for the U.S. and Iran to do business in nuclear fuel rods.
Iran’s leaders understand that if Israel continues its bombing campaign too many more days, Iran will be left virtually defenseless, without a missile defense system and without a grossly degraded ballistic missile capability leaving the regime vulnerable to a coup d’etat. Araghchi tries to deal with the reality of Iran’s situation, something the Ayatollah is too removed to handle. “Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our response will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy,” Araghchi said. If that’s not Iran asking for the U.S. to stop Israel’s bombing campaign, then what is? It leaves Trump in the perfect position to get a new Iranian nuke deal that allows the IAEA to supervise Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
No matter what the Democrats and fake news war against Trump, with their so-called “No Kings Day” protests around the country, Trump has done more to advance peace across the world than Biden did in his four years in office. While there’s no deal yet to end the Ukraine War, Trump has it within his means to get it done, regardless of Democrats’ relentless attacks. When it comes to the Israeli-Iran war, Trump now has the power to let Netanyahu continue to degrade Iran’s military, setting up for possible regime change. Iran’s youthful population wants nothing more than an end to mullah rule in Iran. They’ve lived with the brutal crackdown on human right since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Forty-four years of Islamic rule in Iran has left Iran’s population ready for an uprising. Every day that goes by now, exposes the Ayatollah’s feckless hold on power.
Tehran’s more rational leaders under the Ayatollah understand the devastation to Iran’s military defenses and ballistic missile capability. Iranian officials secretly asked Qatar, Oman and Saud Arabia to intervene with Trump to get Netanyahu to end his blitzkrieg. Iran has said it would show flexibility with a new nuke deal, something once thought impossible before Netanyahu’s military assault on Iran. Araghchi didn’t take the five rounds of nuclear talks seriously until now. So, Trump must decide how far he wants Netanyahu to go with degrading Iran’s military capability and his nuclear enrichment program. Netanyahu started a preemptive war based on Iran enriching uranium to 60%, near weapons grade. But Netanyahu has no proof that Iran has an active A-bomb production program. So, the war was preventive, not necessarily based on any real threat to Israel.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over played his hand sponsoring terror proxy groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi rebels. Now all three have been neutralized by Netanyahu’s ongoing military campaign started Oct. 7, 2023, the date of the Hamas massacre that slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, taking another 251 hostage. “We are on the path to victory,” Netanyahu said, “We are telling the citizens of Tehran to evacuate—and we are taking action,” Netanyahu said, in the first clear sign that he’s going after regime change. Ayatollah can only hang on for so long before his military institutions push him out of power. Iran has no choice but to cut a deal with Trump to get Israel to end its bombing campaign. Trump could delay the end for awhile longer before he gets intel that Iran’s military has been degraded to the point it can no longer defend Iranian national security.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
