Duvi Honig is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber Of Commerce
The headlines sound like a dream come true. President Trump tells us that the Iranian regime has finally given in-promising to hand over its enriched uranium and stop funding terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. To many, this looks like the ultimate victory. But in the world of business and global security, we know that a promise is only as good as the person standing behind it.
The real question isn't what Iran "agreed" to do today. The question is: Who is the guarantor tomorrow?
THE "ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME" WINDOW
For the first time in nearly fifty years, we have a leader in the White House who is actually willing to confront the Mullahs instead of just trying to get along with them. President Trump is a "once-in-a-lifetime" driver at the wheel. But the chilling reality is that he won’t be at the wheel forever.
The leadership in Tehran knows this. They are masters at playing for time. They aren't worried about the next election because they don't have real elections. They are perfectly happy to "lay low" for two years, hand over some "nuclear dust," and wait for the political winds to change. They are betting that if they can just outlast this administration, they will eventually face a weaker leader in Washington or a less determined government in Jerusalem.
A TACTICAL RETREAT, NOT A TOTAL DEFEAT
If we don’t use this moment to permanently dismantle Iran’s ability to create terror, we are walking into a trap. By accepting a short-term promise, we are letting a wounded enemy retreat to its cave to lick its wounds.
The danger is that if this deal allows oil money to start flowing back into Tehran’s coffers, the regime will quickly go shopping. They can turn to China and North Korea for military supplies to replenish their arsenal at lightning speed. Without a permanent shutdown of their system, they can simply wait two years for the pressure to ease and then restart their support for proxies with even more advanced weaponry.
We’ve seen this game before. Iran uses diplomacy to buy time while their infrastructure is rebuilt in secret. If the regime stays in power and their factories are just hidden away instead of destroyed, they will come back more ambitious and dangerous than ever. They will have successfully outmaneuvered the only U.S. President who finally stood up to them.
THE MISSING GUARANTEE
We all eagerly await President Trump’s bottom line, and we hope he includes a long-term guarantee. But frankly, it is difficult to imagine how such a guarantee is even possible.
A promise from a regime that has spent decades lying and testing the world's limits is worthless once the "driver at the wheel" changes. Without a plan that survives political transitions and ensures Iran cannot buy its way back to power, we aren't solving the problem-we are just hitting the "snooze" button on a nuclear alarm clock.
THE REAL BOTTOM LINE
We all want peace, but real peace is built on ironclad guarantees, not temporary deals. We have a rare opportunity right now to finish the job and ensure the Iranian regime can never threaten the world again.
If we settle for a quick headline today, we are leaving the next generation to face a much more powerful and bitter enemy tomorrow. The time to secure our future is now, while we still have the strength and the leadership to get it done right.