Trump Risks Opening ’Pandora’s Box’ with Iran, Analyst Warns

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump is at a pivotal crossroads, facing a choice between a diplomatic off-ramp or launching what could become a war of choice, according to Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, speaking to CNN.

“Leaders always have a choice in these moments,”  she noted. “Trump has, in the past, stepped back from the brink of war with Iran, he has the ability to do so again.”

Geranmayeh warned that if Trump orders a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Tehran would treat it as a "declaration of war."

“Once you open up this Pandora’s box, we have no idea where things go,” she cautioned, adding that it would “most likely consume the rest of President Trump’s presidency.”

Trump has openly rejected a key intelligence assessment on Iran’s nuclear capabilities, instead aligning himself more closely with the Israeli occupation's aggressive stance.

The assessment, delivered in March by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, stated that Iran is not currently developing a nuclear weapon and that Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei has not reauthorized any weapons program since suspending it in 2003.

“The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon,” Gabbard said during her March testimony. “Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”