After three weeks of kinetic operations, the smoke over Iran has yet to clear, but the backroom deal-making has already begun. Reports indicate that Donald Trump’s inner circle—led by real estate mogul Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner—is bypassing traditional diplomatic channels to forge a path toward a grand bargain.
This "maximum pressure" 2.0 approach combines heavy military strikes with transactional outreach. While the Pentagon estimates at least two more weeks of combat, the Trump camp is using Egypt and Qatar as intermediaries to float a laundry list of demands that would fundamentally reshape the Middle East's security architecture.
The American opening bid is audacious, requiring nothing less than the total dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and a regional arms control treaty. Beyond shutting down the Fordow and Natanz facilities, Washington seeks a five-year moratorium on missile development and a complete cessation of funding for the "Axis of Resistance," from Hezbollah to the Houthis.
Tehran, however, is playing its own hand with characteristic stubbornness. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has dismissed the strikes as illegal aggression and demanded not just a ceasefire, but binding guarantees against future attacks and financial reparations for recent damages—terms Mr. Trump reportedly finds "unworkable."
The reliance on personal envoys like Kushner suggests a return to the personalized diplomacy that characterized the Abraham Accords. By sidelining career bureaucrats, the administration hopes to break the decades-long stalemate, though critics warn that such high-stakes gambling risks a strategic vacuum if the military campaign fails to force Tehran’s hand.