PRESS RELEASE: Trump Administration Must Stand Firm on “No Enrichment” Red Line, Says JINSA’s Michael Makovsky

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2025
Contact: Blake Johnson
bjohnson@jinsa.org
Twitter/X: @ItsBlakeJohnson

Washington, DC – The following is a statement from Michael Makovsky, President and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, on the Trump administration’s stated “red line,” reiterated at the White House podium today, that Iran cannot be permitted to have any nuclear enrichment capacity:

“During negotiations, the Iranians have been consistent while Trump administration officials have given conflicting statements on whether Iran could retain enrichment facilities—a critical sticking point. Over the past couple weeks, this has changed with the administration appearing to have settled on a policy of no enrichment facilities. If the administration sticks to it, which I believe it must do, a deal is unlikely.

“As we’ve written, permitting enrichment facilities would be a huge mistake, one that President Barack Obama made with the JCPOA. Congressional Republicans have overwhelmingly stated in letters that the U.S. cannot permit Iran to retain enrichment facilities and that they must be dismantled. That view is shared by Israel, and it is one Iran is unlikely to agree to. If talks drag on, Israel is very likely in the coming months to inform the U.S. that it plans to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.

“One other major challenge, even oddity, of the situation, is President Trump saying Iran can be a rich nation again if they give up their nuclear ambitions. How is it in U.S. interests, or those of close Israeli and Arab allies, for the despicable Tehran regime to become strong and richer in the unlikely event they give up their nuclear program? It decidedly is not. The U.S. should do nothing to enrich the viscerally anti-American, anti-Israel regime in Tehran, and instead do everything it can to weaken it and pressure it, to facilitate the Iranian people in collapsing the regime, which must be the ultimate U.S. policy objective.

“As of now, a deal seems less likely to happen, but that can change tomorrow.”

Michael Makovsky is available for interview.

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