Trump could make stronger Iran deal if he overrides hawks - Washington Post

US President Donald Trump, who once tore up the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, may now be in a position to deliver a stronger one, Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria wrote in an opinion piece Thursday.

“Trump reminded us that sometimes his willingness to take risks and think outside the box can shake up tired old ways,” Zakaria wrote, pointing to the president’s recent moves in Saudi Arabia, including lifting sanctions on Syria and signaling openness to a new deal with Iran.

He argued that the time is now favorable for a deal with Tehran because of two key shifts: Iran’s growing weakness and Saudi Arabia’s increasing strength. “Iran is in worse shape than it has been in a generation,” he wrote, citing economic decline, military setbacks, and the collapse of Bashar Assad's government in Syria.

Zakaria said Trump faces resistance from within his own camp — between realists, including chief negotiator Steve Witkoff, and hawks like Senator Marco Rubio. But he noted that Trump has the political capital to act.

"The more prosaic reality is that Iran is run by a bunch of brutish mullahs and corrupt military officials, who have spent their energies amassing fortunes in this world, not preparing for the next one," he wrote.

“There is a deal to be made with such men,” Zakaria wrote of Iran’s leadership, “not to become friends, but to serve a common interest of defusing the dangers of nuclear arms races and bringing stability to a Middle East that has been scarred by generations of war and terror.”