Foreign Policy > Iran

Understanding Where We Are In Iran And How We Got Here

There are a lot of moving parts in this war because oil makes the world interdependent in ways it wasn’t during WWII, when alliances were clear.

Allan J. Feifer | April 10, 2026

The war is not over by a long shot, but there’s a window open to a resolution. President Trump’s temporary truce with Iran is only the next stage in what promises to be a high-risk, high-reward endeavor if a final agreement is to be reached. Many readers historically don’t pay enough attention to the dynamics unfolding in Iran, Israel, and the Middle East. Those who don’t, for reasons of either disinterest or because they don’t believe there is a long-term solution, are witnessing a pivotal moment for all Americans. President Trump, the last President many thought would engage in a major war, had his hand forced.

This is not a skirmish; this is a war with major geopolitical consequences that has the power to set America on a course for continued prosperity across multiple domains or, if we fail to thread the needle, to close off vital interests and advantage our enemies for the foreseeable future.

Iran is at a fork in the road, and Donald Trump is the one who put it there. Even as late as last week, Iran had no intention of negotiating with us. What changed was a recognition of Donald Trump’s force of will and that Iran’s strategy of deceit, drawing negotiations out, and most importantly, waiting us out, allowing America’s internal and external naysayers to do their dastardly work of undermining America’s will to prosecute the war to completion, is not working fast enough. Iran’s leaders believed Trump’s pronouncement that he would end their society in a lightning-fast four hours of utter destruction. We could do that.

Trump’s dilemma is that........

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