JCPOA

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

A woman watches the speech of Secretary-general of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah at her home in Mishmar David, September 19, 2024. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

What Israelis don’t want to hear about Iran and Hezbollah

For years, Israeli expert Ori Goldberg has tried to challenge commonly-held assumptions about the Islamic Republic and its allies. Will anyone listen?

By Edo Konrad September 20, 2024

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Masoud Pezeshkian. (Ayoub Ghaderi/CC BY 4.0 Deed)

Threatened by a moderate Iranian president, Israel is pulling him into a fight

Israel prefers hardline leaders to maintain a monolithic view of the enemy. Its assassination in Tehran now forces the reformist Pezeshkian into a corner.

By Lior Sternfeld August 13, 2024

Prime Minister Netanyahu delivers a speech to both houses of Congress in Washington D.C. May 24, 2011. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

How hawkish Democrats are impeding Biden’s Middle East policy

From the Iran nuclear deal to the Israeli occupation, conservative Democrats are raising the political costs of adopting a more progressive U.S. foreign policy.

By Mitchell Plitnick April 13, 2021

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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference about Iran's nuclear program, April 30, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Out of Iran deal, into war? Either way, Netanyahu’s popularity soars

Netanyahu appears to have inoculated himself against looming corruption charges due to the dramatic developments on the security front. As war with Iran looms, why does the old formula work so well? On Wednesday night, the day after Trump announced his withdrawal from the Iran deal, in between Israeli airstrikes in Syria, Israel’s Channel 2…

By Dahlia Scheindlin May 10, 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

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sits across from Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on June 30, 2015, in Vienna, Austria, before a one-on-one meeting amid negotiations about the future of Iran's nuclear program. (State Department photo)

The Iranian nuclear deal remains the least bad option

Pulling the U.S. out of the deal — or provoking Iran to pull out — would mean abandoning the least bad option for dealing with an Iran that can produce highly enriched uranium. By Peter Jenkins Abbas Araghchi was in London last week. Araghchi, one of Iran’s deputy foreign ministers, was a negotiator of the Joint Comprehensive…

By +972 Magazine March 1, 2018

President Donald Trump (Joyce N. Boghosian/White House photo)

Killing the Iran deal with a thousand cuts

Much like President Trump is undermining his predecessor’s other flagship achievement, the Affordable Care Act, the president is attacking the Iran nuclear agreement piecemeal. The result will be tragic. By Paul Pillar Don’t be either fooled or relieved by President Trump’s waiving, for now, of nuclear sanctions on Iran, and thus his forgoing of an…

By +972 Magazine January 15, 2018

President Donald J. Trump speaks with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Vice President Mike Pence at the Pentagon, July 20, 2017. (Department of Defense/Dominique A. Pineiro)

A disastrous outcome if Trump pulls out of the Iran deal

Trump seems determined to go forward with a very hostile program toward Iran, and, although a baseless U.S. pullout from the nuclear deal seems unlikely, even the so-called ‘adults in the room’ are looking for a pretext. By Mitchell Plitnick Donald Trump rarely tries to hide his intentions. When he intends to do something reckless…

By +972 Magazine August 2, 2017