Iran nuclear deal

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Jewish News Syndicate conference in Jerusalem, June 21, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

As Iran and the U.S. talk, Israel chooses eternal war

Sidelined from discussions over the region’s future, Netanyahu is telling Israelis they’ll have to go it alone — and they all nod in agreement.

By Ori Goldberg July 3, 2026

President Donald J. Trump signs a Memorandum of Understanding between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America at the Palace of Versailles, France, June 17, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

The only logical outcome of a completely irrational war

Israel and the U.S. vowed to crush the Islamic Republic and its proxies. Yet despite its losses, the regime is stronger and has more leverage than before.

By Lior Sternfeld June 26, 2026

Members of the Iranian Jewish community in Israel burn a picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during a demonstration in support of the Iranian people in the city of Holon, central Israel, January 14, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Pahlavi? IRGC? What’s next for Iran after Khamenei

The U.S.-Israeli assassination of the supreme leader opens the door to a range of possibilities. A democratic transition seems the least likely of all.

By Lior Sternfeld March 3, 2026

Latest

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the prime minister's visit to the White House, Washington DC, February 15, 2017. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

How Trump and Netanyahu made American antisemitism come alive

For four years, Netanyahu has equated Jews with the Israeli government, while Trump has made common cause with white nationalists. I wish more Israelis understood why this was so terrifying.

By Libby Lenkinski November 18, 2020

Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani meets Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano in Saadabad Palace, Tehran, October 13, 2015. (Mahmoud Hosseini/CC BY 4.0)

IAEA chief’s death could spell the end of the Iran nuclear deal

With the recent death of the head of the IAEA, Netanyahu is finding renewed opportunity to bring the ‘atomic archives’ back to center stage and further sabotage the Iran nuclear deal. This is a grave strategic mistake. By Shemuel Meir The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the multilateral agreement that restricts Iran’s nuclear program and…

By +972 Magazine August 9, 2019

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and Air Force commander Ido Nehoshtanas inspect an F-15, August 11, 2009. (Edo Israel/Flash90)

The attack on Iran that wasn’t: Ehud Barak’s autobiography

As Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak was determined to carry out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program. His book provides the tools to examine the limitations of the U.S.-Israeli relationship and the considerations Israeli leaders put into the decision to go to war. By Shemuel Meir “My Country, My Life: Fighting for Israel, Searching…

By +972 Magazine January 17, 2019

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presents files that he says prove the existence of Iran's nuclear program, during a press conference at the Kirya defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, April 30, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Not so fast, Bibi: Why new sanctions won’t bring down the Islamic Republic

President Trump’s new sanctions on Iran were widely praised by Netanyahu and the media. But they may not bring about the outcome so desired by the Israeli leader and his followers. By Shemuel Meir President Trump’s recent declaration on the renewal of the oil and finance sanctions on Iran were greeted with great enthusiasm by Israeli…

By +972 Magazine November 25, 2018

An American sailor stands lookout aboard a guided missile cruiser with the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier seen in the background. (U.S. Navy photo/William Jenkins)

Beyond American hegemony and a liberal international order

With Trump’s departure from the Iran deal, many are mourning the ‘rules based international order.’ But Trump is not the problem: the world has changed, and the idea that the U.S. dominates the world by dint of power, values, wisdom, even God’s decisions is a myth. By Gordon Adams America’s place in the world is…

By +972 Magazine May 24, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a press conference on the Iran nuclear program at the Kirya defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, April 30, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Netanyahu just made the best case for the Iran nuclear deal

Intent on killing the Iran nuclear deal, Netanyahu and Trump have dispensed with logic and are relying on emotion, confusion, and fear to try to achieve their objective. By Paul R. Pillar Benjamin Netanyahu’s display of a cartoon bomb before the United Nations General Assembly nearly six years ago received much ridicule but at least was grounded in some…

By +972 Magazine May 1, 2018

The ruins following the 2018 American-led bombing of Homs. (Fathi Nizam/CC BY 4.0)

After Syria strike, showdown looms over the future of the Iran nuclear deal

The success of a coordinated military strike on Assad’s chemical weapon stockpiles actually bodes well for the Iran nuclear deal. By Shemuel Meir Western powers made good on their warning to the Assad regime on April 14, 2018, and attacked the production and storage sites of the chemical weapons in his possession. The coordinated, wide-ranging operation by the United…

By +972 Magazine April 22, 2018

Palestinians pass through the Israeli army checkpoint at Qalandiya, March 2016. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

50 things that have been around for less time than the occupation

How much has the world changed since Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory began in 1967? The occupation, as we are all too well aware, is about to turn 50. It’s difficult to grasp just how significant a period of time five decades is — especially when we’re trying to imagine the durability of a state of…

By Natasha Soffer-Roth May 21, 2017

A test launch of the Iranian Emad intermediate-range ballistic missile, October 11, 2015. (Mohammad Aaah/Tasnim News Agency)

What ‘putting Iran on notice’ really means

It’s high time for the United States to interject some realism into discussions about Iranian missiles. By Greg Thielmann Iran’s January 29 flight test of a medium-range ballistic missile helped prompt an ominous if ambiguous warning by U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn on February 1: “As of today, we are officially putting Iran on…

By +972 Magazine February 8, 2017

Speaker Paul Ryan meets with the President and Vice President-elect, Donald Trump and Gov. Mike Pence on Capitol Hill after their election. (Office of the Speaker of the House)

Prominent Iranian-Americans to Trump: Keep the nuclear deal

Thirty-seven leading Iranian Americans pen open letter to President-elect Trump, urging him to keep the Iran deal. Abandoning it, they write, will ‘once again put the United States and Iran on the path of war.’ By Jim Lobe In a particularly eloquent and straightforward defense of the Iranian nuclear deal, 37 prominent Iranian Americans have…

By +972 Magazine January 8, 2017