Commentary

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s deployment of religious rhetoric in the Iran war has come under increased scrutiny. What happens when the line between political conflict and religious warfare blurs?

"I want to know who the nuclear experts are that are going," the Council's Rachel Bronson said of the US delegation. "We're sending over novices at the moment, and that should give us considerable concern."

"The US has achieved a type of tactical victory," Council Senior Nonresident Fellow Paul Poast says. "But the terms that are on the table right now would put Iran in a position to be able to control the Strait of Hormuz and actually be in a stronger position than they were even prior to the war."

"Ceasefires are incredibly precarious," says Council President and CEO Leslie Vinjamuri.  "But it does give at least a pause—at least a window—to try and push forward more of a negotiation, especially on the question of the nuclear conditions."

Unless Trump can devise a secure—and cost-neutral—plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the United States will lose even more global goodwill.

While the Trump administration's proposed agreement would curtail Tehran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, it would not touch the real drivers of the Islamic Republic’s power.

“I had never seen the Middle East as chaotic, as dangerous, as spiraling out of control as it is today.” Fawaz Gerges on why he believes the region is entering a much more dangerous phase.

" Even talking about the US formally leaving or just slowly disengaging sends a very dangerous signal to Moscow," Council Distinguished Nonresident Fellow Ambassador Julianne Smith said of President Trump's remarks about withdrawing from NATO.

Targeting Iran's public utilities would constitute a war crime, Council Senior Nonresident Fellow Paul Poast tells NBC 5 Chicago. "There's supposed to be distinction between military and civilian [targets]."

"This is an intervention, a war, a conflict that the US began," says Council Distinguished Nonresident Fellow Ambassador Julianne Smith. "It did not take any information about this intervention to the NATO allies to warn them that there could be asks coming from the United States."