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Home > Videos | 🏛️🇺🇸📖 Heather Cox Richardson

🇮🇱⚔️🇮🇷👹☢️⛪🪓🏝️ The Latest on Israel and Iran: Trump, Nukes, and a MAGA Split

🤖 AI Summary

  • 📢 Importance of internal political contests in understanding international conflicts [00:20].
  • 🌍 Many countries want to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons ☢️ [01:44].
  • 🤝 The JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal) was negotiated in 2015 [02:06].
  • 😠 Republicans opposed the JCPOA [02:58].
  • 💥 Trump pulled the US out of the JCPOA in 2018 [03:23].
  • 🎯 Trump implemented a “maximum pressure campaign” on Iran [03:47].
  • 🔄 Trump reinstituted the maximum pressure plan in February 2025 [04:12].
  • 🕵️ US intelligence assessed Iran was not close to developing a nuclear weapon in March [04:22].
  • 🗣️ Trump suggested negotiations to Iran’s Supreme Leader [04:47].
  • 🇮🇷 Iran indicated willingness to talk in April [05:05].
  • ✍️ Five sets of negotiations occurred between the US and Iran [05:56].
  • 🇮🇱 Israel struck Iran on June 12th [07:31].
  • 🇺🇸 Rubio stated the US had no involvement [08:08].
  • 🏆 Trump began taking credit for the strikes [10:38].
  • 🏛️ The White House is operating with few national security personnel [09:03].
  • ⛪🪓🏝️ The MAGA movement is split over the situation [14:00].
  • ⏳ Trump will decide what to do within two weeks [16:10].
  • ☮️ Americans are tired of wars in the Middle East [16:37].

📚 Book Recommendations

On Iran’s Nuclear Program and US-Iran Relations:

  • 🏭☢️😱 Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare by Gareth Porter. Argues Iran’s nuclear energy program is peaceful and evidence otherwise was manufactured.
  • ⚛️📜 Nuclear Iran: The Birth of an Atomic State by David Patrikarakos. Details the history of Iran’s nuclear program and its connection to the country’s modern history.
  • 💣🌐 Iran and the Bomb: The Abdication of International Responsibility by Thérèse Delpech. Analyzes Iran’s nuclear saga and argues its ambitions are geared towards a bomb.
  • 🇺🇸🇮🇷 US Foreign Policy and Iran: American-Iranian Relations since the Islamic Revolution by Donette Murray. Assesses US foreign policy decision-making concerning Iran since 1979.
  • ⚔️💰 The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East by Jay Solomon. An in-depth look at the covert aspects of the conflict and negotiations surrounding Iran’s nuclear program.

On US Foreign Policy and the Middle East (Broader Context):

  • 🤝🤫 Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States by Trita Parsi. Traces the complex and shifting relations between Israel, Iran, and the US from 1948 to present.
  • 🗺️🌍 US Foreign Policy in the Middle East: From American Missionaries to the Islamic State edited by Geoffrey F. Gresh and Tugrul Keskin. Offers critical analyses of US involvement in the Middle East, from historical roots to contemporary challenges.
  • 🇮🇱🇺🇸 The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt. Examines the influence of the Israel lobby on American foreign policy.
  • 🙏✨ Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present by Michael B. Oren. A comprehensive history of America’s involvement in the Middle East.
  • 🤯🛡️ The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Challenges Our National Security—and What We Can Do About It by Joshua Cooper Ramo. Offers a framework for understanding complex global challenges relevant to regional instability.

On Internal US Politics and Foreign Policy:

  • 🏛️✍️ American Foreign Policy and Process by James M. McCormick. Explores governmental and non-governmental actors shaping American foreign policy.
  • 🧐🧠 National Security through a Cockeyed Lens: How Cognitive Bias Impacts U.S. Foreign Policy by Steve A. Yetiv. Delves into how psychological biases affect decision-making in U.S. foreign policy.
  • 📢📰 Selling Intervention and War: The Presidency, the Media, and the American Public by Jon Western. Examines dynamics between the presidency, media, and public opinion in shaping support for military intervention.

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