EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump’s second term in office presents a historic chance to reverse the Biden administration’s failed Iran policies and prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, a new report from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) argues.
The report, titled "Detecting and Halting an Iranian Weaponization Effort," argues that the president should immediately muster the full weight of the U.S. national security establishment to confront this urgent threat.
"The president made the right call in re-imposing maximum pressure. Now, he needs to ensure Iran can't dash to nuclear weapons, drawing on the short timeline and technical know-how it possesses," Andrea Stricker, author of the FDD report, told Fox News Digital.
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"A nuclear-armed Iran would fundamentally upend security in the region and hinder the ability of the United States, Israel, and their partners to counter Tehran's aggression out of fear of nuclear escalation," she said.
Srickler believes President Trump absolutely cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran and must use all instruments of American power to stop this.
The FDD report recommends that the administration and allies should re-establish the threat of credible military force to deter Iran from breaking the nuclear threshold and, along with Israel, be prepared to target Iranian nuclear sites.
"The United States or Israel should demonstrate their ability to eliminate any detected Iranian weaponization facilities and activities."
U.S. intelligence learned recently that a secret team of Iranian scientists are working on a short-cut to the country’s path to develop a nuclear weapon. The revelations come as Iran’s position in the region has significantly weakened as Tehran became embroiled in conflict with Israel after Oct. 7.
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Then-President Joe Biden allowed Tehran’s nuclear program to progress largely unimpeded, the report said, and Iran now likely has the capability and know-how to produce nuclear weapons. Although Iran may lack confidence in the functionality of certain components, it may be able to detonate a crude nuclear device within six months from starting.
"An advancing Iranian weaponization capability, matched with Tehran’s enrichment of uranium to near-weapons-grade, limits the window of time in which the United States and its allies could intervene to stop an Iranian dash to nuclear weapons, known as a breakout," the report notes.
In a sign of the administration’s toughening position on Iran, Trump signed a memorandum reimposing the "maximum pressure" policy, a hallmark of his first term administration’s crippling sanctions on Tehran.
It is "in the national interest to impose maximum pressure on the Iranian regime to end its nuclear threat, curtail its ballistic missile program, and stop its support for terrorist groups," the president’s executive order read.
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Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, during his first term in 2018 and reapplied harsh economic sanctions. The Biden administration had initially looked at re-engaging with Iran on the nuclear issue upon taking office, but on-again-off-again talks went nowhere, complicated by Iran’s domestic politics and Iran’s role in supporting its terror groups in the region.
Stricker says the clerical regime has an additional incentive to seek nuclear weapons to secure its hold on power with a more confrontational administration in Washington. It could also sprint for the bomb to bolster its offensive and defensive capabilities to deter further Israeli strikes against the regime itself, she warned.
In addition to the military threat, the report recommends the U.S. and Israel should cooperate on intelligence-related operations to detect and disrupt Iranian weaponization. It also suggests that the U.S. and Israel should work toward identifying key Iranian officials and nuclear scientists and to cultivate them as human intelligence sources.
It additionally encourages the U.S. and other nations to urgently mobilize the International Atomic Energy Agency to strengthen inspections of weaponization activities in Iran.
A November 2024 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that Iran has enough fissile material to produce over a dozen nuclear weapons if it continues to enrich uranium.
