'Back to maximum pressure' - Trump's pick for US national security advisor vows 'huge shift on Iran' policy

Mike Waltz, selected by President-elect Donald Trump as his national security advisor, told Fox News on Wednesday that the incoming Trump administration plans to reinstate the maximum pressure policy on the Iranian regime, a strategy employed during Trump’s first term.

“You’re going to see a huge shift on Iran,” Waltz said during the interview. 

“We have to constrain their cash. We have to constrain their oil. We have to go back to maximum pressure, number one, which was working under the first Trump administration,” he continued. 

In May 2018, Trump decided that the United States would withdraw from the controversial Iran deal that had been negotiated during the preceding Obama presidency. 

“The Iran Deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into,” Trump stated at the time, and then quickly implemented financial and diplomatic sanctions on the Iranian regime. However, the Biden administration shifted away from Trump's Iran policy and eased the enforcement of sanctions.

Critics in the U.S. and Israel have argued that the Biden administration’s appeasement policy towards Iran emboldened Tehran to escalate its regional aggression against Israel and moderate Sunni Arab states. 

In contrast, Trump’s emerging administration is dominated by conservatives who seek to strengthen Washington's ties with Israel and Arab allies, while imposing tougher policies on Iran. However, it is currently unclear what the incoming Trump administration’s Iran policy will look like in practice.

Trump is known for embracing tough policies but also seeking to avoid military conflicts in the Middle East and beyond. 

“We’re not looking to do damage to Iran, but they have – they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told media reporters. 

During the U.S. presidential campaign in October, Trump blasted Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for pressuring Israel to avoid targeting Iranian nuclear facilities in response to a large Iranian missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1. 

“I mean, that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” Trump said. “Because, you know what? Soon, they’re going to have nuclear weapons. And then you’re going to have problems.”

Trump has also argued that the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis last year was a result of the Biden administration transferring billions of dollars to the Iranian regime, which backs the terrorist militias Hamas and Hezbollah. 

“It would have never happened if I was president. Iran was broke… They had no money for Hamas, for Hezbollah, they were broke,” Trump said during an interview with “Fox & Friends.” He continued by accusing Biden of being a weak president. 

“They wouldn’t have done it to me. I guarantee you that. They did this because they have no respect for Biden,” Trump argued.

However, Trump opposes protracted military conflicts. He has reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he wants the Gaza War to be completed by the time he assumes office on Jan. 20, 2025.

On the other hand, officials from the emerging Trump administration have indicated that the president-elect wants the Jewish state to win decisively and quickly against Iran’s terror proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. In addition, Trump may support an Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities if they reach a stage that poses a direct threat to Israel's survival.