A 60-day deadline for Iran to make a nuclear deal as the threat of US force looms. President Donald Trump saying he hopes for a deal even as Tehran’s leadership talks tough, and as Israel pushes for more military action.
Sound familiar? While déjà vu is technically an illusion of the mind, the above has happened once before. It is both where the Middle East is today, and where it was in April 2025, in the weeks before the first Israeli strikes on Iran last year, and the US attack on its nuclear facilities. The past year may resemble a circle in US-Iranian relations back to the same place, but the trajectory has spiraled downwards, for the US and the region as a whole.
To recap: Trump wrote to then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, in March 2025, suggesting a two-month deadline to make a nuclear deal, or force could follow.
