With only a month until Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, the Middle East is more chaotic than it has been in years. In early December, Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, as his regime in Syria collapsed. The western media has become focused on what this will mean for Turkey, the Kurds, and Russia. Meanwhile, Israel has launched barrages of airstrikes on military targets across Syria.
While Syria is currently getting the lion’s share of attention, guiding American policy regarding Iran could be Trump’s most important strategic challenge in 2025. Within the President-elect’s incoming foreign policy team there is a growing push to consider preemptive airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear program. Proponents of this approach cite a recent intelligence assessment, which makes the case that Iran is more likely to rely on nuclear deterrence now that it has suffered the strategic defeat of its allies in Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria. It is not only American analysts who are more seriously considering a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Reporting from The Times of Israel suggests that key figures in the IDF feel that the time is right for a direct Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
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