Here’s what this smart X post from Michael Rothman says:
๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐’ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐% ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
Let’s be precise about what Ro Khanna is actually arguing โ because it deserves to be stated clearly before it is demolished.
Khanna’s position: Iran was not an imminent threat. The JCPOA had enrichment down to 3.6%. We could have negotiated tougher terms through Oman. There were no ICBMs pointed at America. We should have kept talking.
Now here is the reality that Jacqui Heinrich delivered in a single sentence that Khanna had no answer for: Iran walked into negotiations and opened with the declaration that they had enough enriched material to build ๐๐ ๐ง๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ and were two weeks from doing so.
That was their ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง.
Not a leaked intelligence assessment.
Not an American estimate. Iran said it itself โ at the table โ as a statement of leverage. They were not hiding their nuclear capability. They were weaponizing it as a negotiating tool.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฌ “๐ง๐จ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐๐๐ญ.”
Now let’s talk about the JCPOA โ Khanna’s great fallback position. The 2015 deal that was supposed to hold Iran’s enrichment at 3.6%. Let’s examine what that win actually produced. Weapons-grade uranium requires 90% enrichment.
The JCPOA was supposed to cap Iran at 3.6%. When inspectors and intelligence agencies tracked what Iran was actually doing, they found enrichment at ๐๐% โ nearly seventeen times the agreed limit, and two-thirds of the way to weapons-grade.
Iran signed the deal, pocketed the sanctions relief โ billions of dollars that funded H-z-b, H-m-s, and every proxy war across the region โ and kept enriching the entire time.
That 3.6% Khanna is so proud of? ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐๐ ๐ข๐ญ. They reached 60% while diplomats congratulated each other on the success of the framework. And then they walked into the next round of negotiations bragging about enough material for 11 bombs.
That is not a negotiating success story. ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ง๐.
Khanna argues the JCPOA bought 15 years of delay. But even accepting that framing entirely โ delay to what? At the end of those 15 years, sunset clauses expire, restrictions lift, and Iran is legally permitted to enrich to whatever level it chooses.
With a more advanced centrifuge program. A more sophisticated missile arsenal. A more entrenched regional proxy network.
And 15 additional years of revenue funding all of it.
The JCPOA did not solve the Iranian nuclear problem. ๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐ญ ๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ. Even Democrats acknowledged this.
Even JCPOA supporters conceded it was a delay mechanism, not a permanent solution. Khanna himself admits in the interview that you’d need tougher negotiations afterward.
But Iran just told you at the table that they already have 60%-enriched material sufficient for 11 bombs and are two weeks from assembly. Explain exactly what leverage produces tougher terms from a country that has already crossed every red line, violated the existing deal, and is openly bragging about its nuclear capability.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง.
Decades of diplomacy. Two nuclear deals. Billions in sanctions relief. And Iran arrives at the table at 60% enrichment, bragging about 11 bombs, two weeks from a weapon.
Khanna says we have now created a threat by acting.
Let’s look at what acting produced.
– The nuclear program is set back.
– The factories are rubble.
– The missile stockpile has drained 90% in ten days.
– The Supreme Leader is incapacitated.
– Kharg Island โ 90% of Iran’s oil export capacity โ has been struck. – A
nd Iran’s Foreign Minister is raging on camera because HIMARS rounds are landing from UAE soil.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ค ๐ ๐ง๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐.
Ro Khanna’s alternative was another round of talks with a regime that signed the last deal, violated it immediately, enriched to 60%, and then opened the next negotiation by announcing 11 bombs. And here is the part that should keep every American up at night.
This man โ Ro Khanna โ and the Democrats who think exactly like him were one election away from being in charge of this decision. They would have gone back to the table. They would have offered more sanctions relief. They would have accepted another framework with more sunset clauses and more loopholes and called it diplomacy. And Iran would have kept enriching and producing viable nuclear weapons.
Instead we have a president who looked at 60% enrichment, 11 bombs, and two weeks on the clock โ and decided the negotiations were over. The factories are rubble. The program is set back by years. The Supreme Leader is incapacitated. And the man who made that call is Donald Trump โ not a career diplomat, not a think-tank consensus builder, not a president who measures success by the number of agreements signed rather than the number of centrifuges destroyed. ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ค ๐๐จ๐ ๐ฐ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฉ ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ง๐.
๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐' ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐% ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) March 15, 2026
Let's be precise about what Ro Khanna is actually arguing โ because it deserves to be stated clearlyโฆ pic.twitter.com/4a4ouhv0c6
