Trump’s strategy on Iran may pay off as deal appears imminent

US President Donald Trump’s strategy has been a case study in statecraft and diplomacy — patient, far-sighted diplomacy, in close coordination with America’s allies and partners in the region. 

This path is not born of disrespect to Iran or its people; it is diplomacy in the language of the IRGC — an attempt to navigate a viable new paradigm for Iran and the region.

That far-sighted diplomacy includes a long game, one often overlooked in mainstream reporting: the deliberate construction of a durable economic and security architecture that offers every actor in the region — Iran included — a clear choice between aligning with the emerging order and atrophying outside it.

Central to that architecture is the president’s bold alignment with three pivotal leaders — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.