It was Khamenei’s advancement of Iran’s nuclear program that ultimately led to the attacks on Iran by Israel and the US.
Though he repeatedly claimed the program was for peaceful purposes — and even issued a religious decree, or fatwa, proclaiming that nuclear weapons were forbidden by Islam — he steadfastly supported the development of nuclear energy as a matter of national sovereignty and strategic leverage.
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By the time Hassan Rouhani, a centrist politician, succeeded hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president in 2013, the nuclear showdown with the West had turned into Iran’s biggest foreign policy challenge. With Khamenei’s approval, Rouhani’s administration negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal (known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) with world powers, including the US. The deal was meant to free the Iranian economy from years of crippling sanctions in return for limits on Iran’s nuclear program, notably its enrichment of uranium.
But Khamenei remained skeptical. His reluctance to fully embrace the deal contributed to its fragility. When Trump unilaterally exited the agreement in 2018, Iran continued to abide by it. But a year later, Tehran said it would no longer be bound by its commitments if the other parties to the JCPOA were in breach of theirs.
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The election of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian in 2024 on a platform of reengaging with the world and resolving Iran’s nuclear standoff brought hope of reinvigorating Iran’s economy and reintegrating the Islamic Republic into the international community. Talks resumed with the US a year later, but hopes of reaching a detente with the West were crushed by Israel’s attack on Iran in the middle of those talks, as it sought to capitalize on its military gains after the October 7 attacks.
Eight months later, Iran and the US began another round of indirect talks, mediated by Oman. Despite engaging with Tehran, the Trump administration started the biggest American military buildup in the Middle East in over two decades. Trump sent mixed signals, saying talks had been going well, while advocating regime change in Iran.
