Although the Trump allies have repeatedly vowed to pivot away from involvement in the Middle East, a major crisis still looms on the horizon with Iran. In his first term, President Donald Trump tore up the Iran Nuclear Deal, also known as the JCPOA, setting the stage for a renewed campaign of sanctions, sabotage, and assassination targeting Iran. Iran responded by vastly ramping up its nuclear enrichment program.

The situation continues to escalate, with Western powers weighing their dwindling options for how to respond to Iran’s nuclear expansion. Even after Israel inflicting major blows on Iran’s allies in the region over the past year, a U.S. war with Iran would be an extremely difficult and dangerous endeavor, and would destroy Trump’s vow to wind down U.S. wars in the region.

The U.S. now faces a choice of reengaging diplomatically with Iran, going to war, or accepting a nuclear Iran as a new reality.

On the new episode of Drop Site News's podcast Intercepted, Sina Toossi, a senior nonresident fellow at the Center for International Policy, joins Murtaza Hussain for a wide-ranging discussion on Iran and the incoming Trump administration.

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