The Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently been a destabilizing force in Middle Eastern geopolitics. With Donald Trump resuming the presidency in January 2025, his administration will have to confront how to credibly restore deterrence against the regime in Tehran.
While the president-elect instinctually understands the art of deterrence—his recent threat of there being “all hell to pay” to Hamas over the hostages held in Gaza being a case in point—reverting to the maximum-pressure campaign in the early phases of his second term could create the right conditions for the United States to restore general deterrence against Iran.
In this article, I examine what made the maximum-pressure campaign so effective in isolating Iran and argue that the first step to restoring general deterrence with Iran is to once again implement the maximum-pressure…
