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Taking Out Iran's Nuclear Facilities Could Usher In a New Dawn for Peace and Prosperity In the Middle East

Taking Out Iran's Nuclear Facilities Could Usher In a New Dawn for Peace and Prosperity In the Middle East

Cyrus the Great, the compassionate and tolerant Babylonian who unified Iranian tribes in 549 BC to create the Persian empire, advised leaders to seek 'diversity in counsel and unity in command', and 'whenever you can, act as a liberator.'
While Cyrus' Iranian descendants lost this wisdom, his message was heard by the U.S. For months, we have warned that Iran stood on the precipice of developing a nuclear weapon. While we do not agree with Donald Trump on many issues, we presciently predicted that in the face of this crisis, the president would act decisively to neutralize Iran's nuclear capabilities.
It is premature to declare 'mission accomplished' from Trump's decision today to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, with many expecting potential retaliatory strikes against US forces, allies, and interests by Iran in the hours and days ahead.
But from a broader strategic perspective, it is already clear that today marks a potential turning point for the Middle East.
Far from an unnecessary escalation, as some critics suggest, these strikes represent a step closer to peace and prosperity for the U.S., the Middle East, and the world. The main threat to that - Iran and its proxy network - have been dramatically weakened.
It is hard to overstate the significance of Trump's strike. A nuclear Iran was one of the gravest long-term security threats facing the world, and nobody wanted to see a regime — dominated by extremist clerics and fanatics responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people — obtain weapons of mass destruction.
But for decades, the presence of Hezbollah, Hamas, and other Iran-backed proxies as threats on Israel's borders made the neutralization of Iran's nuclear ambitions unachievable and even unthinkable. For many, it became easier to live with the threat of a nuclear Iran than to deal with it.
Thanks to Israel's decimation of Iran's proxies over the last two years, sometimes in defiance of western governments, that balance of power has gradually shifted.
Khamenei had a chance for a new nuclear deal, but misguidedly chose not to seize it, reflecting the same fundamental miscalculation that brought the demise of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah, and culminating in today's coup de grace.
With a substantively denuclearized Iranian regime now stripped of key military capabilities and regional leverage, with Hamas and Hezbollah largely neutralized as offensive forces, the greatest obstacles to peace and prosperity in the Middle East will soon be out of the way, creating potential conditions towards expanding the Abraham Accords and forging new economic, cultural, and diplomatic ties between Israel and the greater Arab world.
In fact, Hamas's attacks on October 7, 2023, were driven in part by Hamas' objective of derailing a planned normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the home of Mecca and the spiritual and symbolic center of Islam.
Riyadh will not be able to move immediately, even if Israel ends the war in Gaza and is able to bring the hostages back home, with the death and destruction in Gaza having soured Arab populaces toward Israel. But make no mistake, today's developments will help bring that process back on track over time, as the people of the Middle East continue to push forward with choosing a future of regional peace and economic prosperity over fear, terror and oppression.
As Jared Kushner, the architect of the Abraham Accords, put it: 'Iranian leadership has been stuck in the old Middle East, while their neighbors in the Gulf are sprinting toward the future by investing in their populations and infrastructure. They are becoming dynamic magnets for talent and investment while Iran falls further behind.'
Despite criticism of the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities from across the political spectrum — from Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson and Thomas Massie on the right, to Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the left — many others have acknowledged its strategic implications and potential opportunities. Figures from both parties, including some of Trump's most frequent critics, such as President Obama and President Biden's top Mideast advisor, Brett McGurk, to former White House Chief of Staff and Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel — have recognized the potential significance of this moment.
As Emanuel pointed out on CNN, the biggest losers from Trump's strikes are America's enemies abroad, chiefly China and Russia, who were the biggest supporters and enablers of Iran's drive towards a nuclear weapon. Some have even suggested that Putin encouraged Tehran and its proxies as a diversion of attention away from Ukraine. It is now apparent that Iran's struggles have backfired catastrophically on its allies, with their efforts and investment having gone for naught.
Ever since George W. Bush anointed Russia, Iran and North Korea as the Axis of Evil, the U.S. had failed to cripple its surge — until now.
To be clear, it is still far too early to declare 'mission complete'. We are still in the earliest innings as retaliatory strikes from Iran appear imminent. Khamenei will need to do some kind of retaliation, perhaps targeting American forces and bases in the region or targeting the Saudis or Emiratis or another of our regional allies, or shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, to show Iran can hurt the US and its interests.
Regardless, the U.S. is well positioned to fend off Iran's next move, especially if Tehran should choose to engage in economic warfare and target global oil supplies.
If Iran moves to blockade or attack oil tankers traversing the crucial Strait of Hormuz — where 20% of the world's oil passes through — the U.S. 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, can easily break the blockade or provide escorts to tankers as it did during the Gulf War. If Iranian oil is then taken off the market or if Tehran should target Gulf oil facilities, there is plenty of spare oil capacity globally to make up for what is lost. Iran's roughly two million barrels per day of exports pale in comparison to the approximately three million barrels per day of spare capacity possessed by Saudi Arabia alone, not to mention spare capacity within other OPEC+ countries as well as the U.S., now the world's single largest oil producer.
Similarly, on a military front, despite reports that Israel is running low on missile interceptors, which may be overstated anyhow; the U.S. is well prepared to continue supporting Israel while Iran runs hopelessly low on its own supply of ballistic missiles, not to mention the destruction of many missile launch sites.
Furthermore, Iran is still well incentivized to avoid an all-out war with the U.S., which they have long dreaded, for fear that the revolutionary regime led by the Ayatollah may be overthrown.
While the full extent of the damage to Iran's nuclear capabilities remains uncertain, what is clear is that Iran's nuclear ambitions have been severely degraded and set back years, if not decades. After the U.S., during the Eisenhower administration, helped initiate Iran's nuclear program for civilian use, the Iranian revolutionary regime has invested half a trillion dollars over 40 years on weaponizing their nuclear program, inching ever closer to the atomic bomb. Between the imploding Iranian economy and the loss of dozens of key nuclear scientists, it will take even longer for Iran to build back what they have lost.
While it remains too soon to know how events will unfold, there is cautious optimism about the possibility of a more stable and peaceful future in the Middle East.
Far from marking a needless escalation, this week's strikes degrading Iran's nuclear capabilities represent a step closer to peace and prosperity for the U.S., the Middle East, and the world.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is Lester Crown Professor of Management Practice at the Yale School of Management as well as founder and president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, the world's first school for incumbent CEOs across sectors. He has informally advised five U.S. presidents, two Republicans and three Democrats; helped advise the development of the Abraham Accords; and helped catalyze the exit of over 1,000 companies from Russia.
Dennis Ross is former special assistant to President Barack Obama in charge of the Middle East. He is the counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and also teaches at Georgetown University's Center for Jewish Civilization. He has worked on Mideast peace across six decades for both Democratic and Republican Presidents, including as Special Envoy for President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton as well as a member of the National Security Council staff.
Roya Hakakian is a public scholar at the Moynihan Center at City College, CUNY. She is the author of several books, including Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran.
Steven Tian is research director of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute. He previously worked in the U.S. State Department on Iranian nuclear nonproliferation in the Office of the Under Secretary.
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Powell privately adamant that he will serve out his full term at the Fed
Powell privately adamant that he will serve out his full term at the Fed

CNN

time13 minutes ago

  • CNN

Powell privately adamant that he will serve out his full term at the Fed

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has told multiple associates and allies that there's no chance he will bow to President Donald Trump's calls for him to resign, vowing to withstand several more months of the president's unprecedented, multi-pronged assault over Powell's refusal to lower interest rates. The top central banker has privately argued that he must stay put for more than just personal reasons — the fate of his chairmanship is now linked with that of the Fed's overall independence, according to people familiar with the discussions. He has said that stepping down now would undermine the institution's longstanding freedom from political interference. 'He feels very strongly that his responsibility is to maintain that independence,' said GOP Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who is among those who have personally questioned Powell over whether he might quit. 'I've asked him, and he says no, that would reduce the independence of the Federal Reserve.' Powell's determination to serve out his term through May 2026 ensures he will remain the target of a White House-led attacks on the Fed, which has faced intensifying pressure to cut interest rates. That coordinated effort has put the central bank's traditionally staid decision-making under intense scrutiny — and raised fresh concerns about the potential economic consequences of meddling with monetary policy for political purposes. A low-key economic expert who did a stint in the George H.W. Bush administration, Powell has earned a reputation over more than a decade at the Fed as studiously non-partisan 'straight shooter' who relies on reams of data to make decisions, according to people who worked with him. His detachment from day-to-day politics, despite what one of the people described as his moderately conservative learnings, helped Powell earn bipartisan support in the Senate when Trump nominated him to chair the Fed in 2017. But the no-frills approach that appealed to Trump in his first term has since become yet another strike against the Fed chair. The president has repeatedly bristled at Powell's unwillingness to engage with his calls to cut rates. And Powell's generally stoic personality has done little to win Trump over. 'I think he's terrible,' Trump said earlier this month. 'It's like talking to a chair. No personality.' Trump has ratcheted up his criticism in recent weeks, openly saying he hopes Powell resigns, accusing him of trying to damage his presidency and insulting him on a near-daily basis as 'stupid,' a 'numbskull' and 'truly one of my worst appointments.' Those attacks have been regularly amplified by Trump aides and close allies, who at some points have spread unfounded rumors that the Fed chair's resignation was imminent. The White House in recent weeks has spent significant time spotlighting the price tag of a renovation project at the Fed, launching investigations into the cost overruns for the $2.5 billion project and suggesting it could be a fireable offense. On Thursday, Trump sought to press the issue by traveling to the Fed to tour the construction, where Powell personally escorted him around. The Fed chair stood by as Trump advocated for rate cuts, at one point laughing awkwardly as the president slapped him on the back and said he'd 'love him to lower interest rates.' 'I just want to see one thing happen,' Trump said later. 'Interest rates have to come down.' Despite the criticism, Trump reiterated that he has no plans to fire Powell — his advisers have warned that doing so would tank the financial markets and spark an economic crisis. But Trump and his aides have instead sought to make Powell's tenure as painful as possible to undermine his credibility and potentially even drive him to quit. Trump allies have homed in on the Fed's pricey renovation, viewing it as a particularly potent weapon. (Trump has pushed his own renovations at the White House, albeit on a much smaller scale.) Still, his allies argue that they can use the Fed project to increase public pressure on Powell by contrasting the hefty spending on the Fed headquarters with everyday Americans' struggles to afford homes — something they point out could be alleviated if the central banker would cut interest rates. 'Every day that Jerome Powell is in Washington is a gift to the president,' said one Trump adviser, who likened the pressure campaign to boiling a frog. 'Either Jerome Powell leaps or he boils.' A Federal Reserve spokesman declined to comment for this article, pointing instead to Powell's prior public pledges to serve the entirety of his term. Yet for all the furor coming from the White House, Powell has indicated to associates that he's keeping his head down. Publicly, he's remained solely focused on carrying out the Fed's work setting monetary policy without consideration of the political reverberations. That approach appeared to pay off at least temporarily on Thursday, with Trump backing off his harshest rhetoric following a conversation with Powell during the Fed construction tour that he described as a 'very productive talk.' 'There's always Monday morning quarterbacks, I don't want to be that,' Trump said afterward, declining to criticize the renovations that he and his aides had previously described as a scandal. 'It got out of control, and that happens.' The détente may not hold much longer, with the Fed widely expected to hold rates steady next week and delay any shift in policy until the fall. That decision is likely to infuriate Trump, who has fixated on cutting rates as a way to further juice the economy ahead of next year's midterm elections. But in both private and public, Powell has shrugged off the political implications, emphasizing the need to stick solely to the economic considerations that have long guided the Fed. 'The best defense for the Fed is to get the policy right,' said Bill English, a Yale professor and former director of the Fed's division of monetary affairs. 'I feel sorry for the guy, but the best he can do at this point is hang tough and do the best job he can on monetary policy.' Outside of Trump's orbit, Powell's resolve to finish his term has won praise from Democrats — including many who had previously criticized him during the Biden era when the Fed kept raising rates to try to combat a surge of inflation. At the time, Powell's insistence on keeping rates higher for longer in pursuit of a so-called economic soft landing prompted consternation among some in the Biden White House and the broader Democratic Party who worried the approach would tip the country into a recession. But former officials have since rallied around him, anxious over the potential fallout should Powell decide to leave. 'He's putting the integrity of the institution above himself,' said Jared Bernstein, who chaired the Biden-era Council of Economic Advisers. 'If I were a 72-year-old guy who's getting verbally abused by the president on a daily basis, retirement would look pretty good. But I really believe that Powell is engaged in protecting the institution.' As for Republicans, some lawmakers wary of damaging the Fed's credibility have encouraged the White House to back off its criticisms, arguing that it'll benefit Trump more when Powell does begin lowering interest rates if it doesn't come amid a cloud of political pressure. Yet until that message breaks through, they're putting their faith in Powell — and hoping he stays true to his word. 'The vast majority of the members of the Senate are smart enough to have been in contact with the markets, they've observed the markets, they know what an impact it would be on the markets should there be any inkling that the Fed was being coerced,' said Rounds, the Republican senator. '[Powell's] in the right position. He's got a very tough position, but I respect him for the position he's taken.'

Republicans in Congress head home to angry voters. So much for summer break.
Republicans in Congress head home to angry voters. So much for summer break.

USA Today

time13 minutes ago

  • USA Today

Republicans in Congress head home to angry voters. So much for summer break.

The Jeffrey Epstein case has grown into a full-blown problem for Republicans who were already failing Americans. And that feels like a lose-lose scenario as 2026 midterm elections loom. What are you doing during your summer vacation? U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson apparently plans to spend his six-week break trying to get his story straight about the Epstein files fiasco. That's a daunting challenge for the Republican from Louisiana, who has flip-flopped from calling for "transparency" on the issue to sending the House home early on July 22 to shut down Republican attempts to release those files. But that's life when you unconditionally surrender the Article I powers that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress as a coequal branch of government to a scandal-prone presidency held by Donald Trump. If Johnson's vacation were a scary summer movie, we'd have to call it 'I Know What You Did With the Epstein Files.' Things don't look much better for the Republicans who are in control of the U.S. Senate. Trump wants that chamber to work through the summer break so it can rubber-stamp his nominees for various positions. If this also were a horror film, it would be a sequel – "No Way Out, Again" – because Trump did the same thing with a compliant Senate during his first term in 2018. So here are the options for congressional Republicans from now until early September: Go home and endure town halls with constituents angry about Trump's broken promise to release the Epstein files and the looming negative impacts of his signature budget bill. Or stay in Washington and answer a growing rush of questions as the Epstein news keeps beating like a "Tell-Tale Heart." Scary stuff, indeed. Epstein files put a stop to Republicans' victory lap Johnson has served less as a speaker of the House and more like a servant to Trump's expectations. And that was working for him. 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But then Trump, who promised while campaigning in 2024 to release the Department of Justice's files on Epstein, decided recently to keep them secret, enraging his own supporters and putting his Republican allies in Congress in a tight spot. Maybe it's just a coincidence that Attorney General Pam Bondi is reported to have briefed Trump in May that he is mentioned in those very files that his supporters want to see released. So Trump's in a tight spot, too. Johnson's slipshod response to the Epstein secrecy has been to advocate for transparency, which Trump doesn't want, and then revert to presidential servitude by trying to stamp out any attempts at transparency. This has provoked something we rarely see anymore – bipartisanship – as Republican and Democratic members of the House voted together to subpoena the Epstein files. This doesn't look like it will simmer down in six weeks. Americans are clearly unhappy with Trump's Republican regime Republicans are hitting the road with a story that isn't selling well. A July 23 Fox News poll found that 67% of American voters think Trump's administration has not been transparent about Epstein, including 60% of the Republicans surveyed and 56% of Trump's so-called MAGA supporters. And then there's this: Fox News found that 4 out of 5 people in the survey said they were following the Epstein case. We're closing in on the end of July – vacation season – and these people are tuned all the way in on this. Trump's budget bill was also underwater in the poll, with 58% disapproving and 39% in support. That makes for testy town halls, if the Republicans dare to hold them in the next six weeks. And that feels like a lose-lose scenario with the 2026 midterm elections looming ever larger. Face your angry constituents and be ready to go viral on social media, exactly the kind of things that would-be opponents mine for campaign commercials. Or duck and cover and get branded a coward, exactly the kind of thing that would-be opponents exploit for campaign commercials. No matter which way Republicans go, at home or in Washington, they should first ask themselves: Does Trump care about how any of this impacts me and my future in politics, or is he only interested in protecting himself? I think they already know the answer. Trump is – now, in the past, in the future, always – looking out only for himself. That prompts two more questions. Why is he working so hard to keep the Epstein files secret? And do you really want to be on the record helping him with that secrecy if the files are finally released? Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.

Powell privately adamant that he will serve out his full term at the Fed
Powell privately adamant that he will serve out his full term at the Fed

CNN

time13 minutes ago

  • CNN

Powell privately adamant that he will serve out his full term at the Fed

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has told multiple associates and allies that there's no chance he will bow to President Donald Trump's calls for him to resign, vowing to withstand several more months of the president's unprecedented, multi-pronged assault over Powell's refusal to lower interest rates. The top central banker has privately argued that he must stay put for more than just personal reasons — the fate of his chairmanship is now linked with that of the Fed's overall independence, according to people familiar with the discussions. He has said that stepping down now would undermine the institution's longstanding freedom from political interference. 'He feels very strongly that his responsibility is to maintain that independence,' said GOP Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who is among those who have personally questioned Powell over whether he might quit. 'I've asked him, and he says no, that would reduce the independence of the Federal Reserve.' Powell's determination to serve out his term through May 2026 ensures he will remain the target of a White House-led attacks on the Fed, which has faced intensifying pressure to cut interest rates. That coordinated effort has put the central bank's traditionally staid decision-making under intense scrutiny — and raised fresh concerns about the potential economic consequences of meddling with monetary policy for political purposes. A low-key economic expert who did a stint in the George H.W. Bush administration, Powell has earned a reputation over more than a decade at the Fed as studiously non-partisan 'straight shooter' who relies on reams of data to make decisions, according to people who worked with him. His detachment from day-to-day politics, despite what one of the people described as his moderately conservative learnings, helped Powell earn bipartisan support in the Senate when Trump nominated him to chair the Fed in 2017. But the no-frills approach that appealed to Trump in his first term has since become yet another strike against the Fed chair. The president has repeatedly bristled at Powell's unwillingness to engage with his calls to cut rates. And Powell's generally stoic personality has done little to win Trump over. 'I think he's terrible,' Trump said earlier this month. 'It's like talking to a chair. No personality.' Trump has ratcheted up his criticism in recent weeks, openly saying he hopes Powell resigns, accusing him of trying to damage his presidency and insulting him on a near-daily basis as 'stupid,' a 'numbskull' and 'truly one of my worst appointments.' Those attacks have been regularly amplified by Trump aides and close allies, who at some points have spread unfounded rumors that the Fed chair's resignation was imminent. The White House in recent weeks has spent significant time spotlighting the price tag of a renovation project at the Fed, launching investigations into the cost overruns for the $2.5 billion project and suggesting it could be a fireable offense. On Thursday, Trump sought to press the issue by traveling to the Fed to tour the construction, where Powell personally escorted him around. The Fed chair stood by as Trump advocated for rate cuts, at one point laughing awkwardly as the president slapped him on the back and said he'd 'love him to lower interest rates.' 'I just want to see one thing happen,' Trump said later. 'Interest rates have to come down.' Despite the criticism, Trump reiterated that he has no plans to fire Powell — his advisers have warned that doing so would tank the financial markets and spark an economic crisis. But Trump and his aides have instead sought to make Powell's tenure as painful as possible to undermine his credibility and potentially even drive him to quit. Trump allies have homed in on the Fed's pricey renovation, viewing it as a particularly potent weapon. (Trump has pushed his own renovations at the White House, albeit on a much smaller scale.) Still, his allies argue that they can use the Fed project to increase public pressure on Powell by contrasting the hefty spending on the Fed headquarters with everyday Americans' struggles to afford homes — something they point out could be alleviated if the central banker would cut interest rates. 'Every day that Jerome Powell is in Washington is a gift to the president,' said one Trump adviser, who likened the pressure campaign to boiling a frog. 'Either Jerome Powell leaps or he boils.' A Federal Reserve spokesman declined to comment for this article, pointing instead to Powell's prior public pledges to serve the entirety of his term. Yet for all the furor coming from the White House, Powell has indicated to associates that he's keeping his head down. Publicly, he's remained solely focused on carrying out the Fed's work setting monetary policy without consideration of the political reverberations. That approach appeared to pay off at least temporarily on Thursday, with Trump backing off his harshest rhetoric following a conversation with Powell during the Fed construction tour that he described as a 'very productive talk.' 'There's always Monday morning quarterbacks, I don't want to be that,' Trump said afterward, declining to criticize the renovations that he and his aides had previously described as a scandal. 'It got out of control, and that happens.' The détente may not hold much longer, with the Fed widely expected to hold rates steady next week and delay any shift in policy until the fall. That decision is likely to infuriate Trump, who has fixated on cutting rates as a way to further juice the economy ahead of next year's midterm elections. But in both private and public, Powell has shrugged off the political implications, emphasizing the need to stick solely to the economic considerations that have long guided the Fed. 'The best defense for the Fed is to get the policy right,' said Bill English, a Yale professor and former director of the Fed's division of monetary affairs. 'I feel sorry for the guy, but the best he can do at this point is hang tough and do the best job he can on monetary policy.' Outside of Trump's orbit, Powell's resolve to finish his term has won praise from Democrats — including many who had previously criticized him during the Biden era when the Fed kept raising rates to try to combat a surge of inflation. At the time, Powell's insistence on keeping rates higher for longer in pursuit of a so-called economic soft landing prompted consternation among some in the Biden White House and the broader Democratic Party who worried the approach would tip the country into a recession. But former officials have since rallied around him, anxious over the potential fallout should Powell decide to leave. 'He's putting the integrity of the institution above himself,' said Jared Bernstein, who chaired the Biden-era Council of Economic Advisers. 'If I were a 72-year-old guy who's getting verbally abused by the president on a daily basis, retirement would look pretty good. But I really believe that Powell is engaged in protecting the institution.' As for Republicans, some lawmakers wary of damaging the Fed's credibility have encouraged the White House to back off its criticisms, arguing that it'll benefit Trump more when Powell does begin lowering interest rates if it doesn't come amid a cloud of political pressure. Yet until that message breaks through, they're putting their faith in Powell — and hoping he stays true to his word. 'The vast majority of the members of the Senate are smart enough to have been in contact with the markets, they've observed the markets, they know what an impact it would be on the markets should there be any inkling that the Fed was being coerced,' said Rounds, the Republican senator. '[Powell's] in the right position. He's got a very tough position, but I respect him for the position he's taken.'

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