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President Trump has publicly revealed that he discussed Iran’s nuclear ambitions with Vladimir Putin, and that the Russian leader told him he does not want Iran to become a nuclear-armed state. Trump also said Putin offered to help the United States handle Iran’s enriched uranium, a practical admission that Moscow sees the danger of a nuclear Iran and is willing to play a role in rolling it back.
That phone call came as Mr. Trump doubled down on his hardline approach, rejecting a tentative Iranian proposal and keeping the U.S. naval blockade in place until Tehran surrenders the fissile material the president says could become a bomb. This is exactly the sort of decisive pressure our commanders and allies expect; weakness would only invite Tehran to keep stalling and to dream of regional hegemony.
Patriots should take heart that the president is not afraid to use leverage and to name friends and foes plainly; he insisted Iran will not get a nuclear weapon and reminded the country its ambitions would not be tolerated. While the liberal media reflexively paint every move as reckless, a nuclear Iran is the existential threat to Israel and a catastrophic danger to American interests — toughness, not timidity, is what prevents that outcome.
At the same time, we should be clear-eyed about Vladimir Putin’s motives. Moscow’s offer to “help” with Iran’s enriched uranium may be tactical, and any cooperation must be handled with ironclad safeguards and American oversight. The president was right to push back and insist that Russia prove useful by helping end its war in Ukraine first, because American security cannot be subordinated to Kremlin games.
This administration’s combination of pressure and negotiation — keeping the blockade, demanding Iran surrender its enriched material, and entertaining credible third-party custody proposals — is the kind of asymmetric strategy conservatives have long argued for. Democrats and dovish Republicans who howl about diplomacy without leverage should explain what they would do differently to stop Tehran from obtaining a bomb. The answer from the president’s critics so far has been little more than moralizing and appeasement.
Hardworking Americans know that national security is not a popularity contest, and today’s leaders must make decisions that keep our children safe decades from now. Trump’s insistence on preventing a nuclear Iran is the kind of clarity of purpose that used to define American foreign policy before we started treating our adversaries like partners in a classroom exercise.
Now is the time for every patriot to stand behind pressure that works: insist on verifiable dismantlement, demand third-country custody of fissile material if needed, and support our commander-in-chief when he uses every tool to make sure tyranny never holds the world’s most dangerous weapon. America must remain strong, and we should be proud of a president who refuses to let a hostile regime cross that red line.
