Targeted Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Wouldn’t ‘Necessarily’ Lead to War, Foreign Policy Expert Says

TEL AVIV, Israel—Taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities wouldn’t automatically result in war, according to The Heritage Foundation’s Victoria Coates.  

“We also very strongly believe, and this is the critical point, a strike on the Iranian nuclear facilities does not result, necessarily, in war,” Coates, who serves as vice president of the think tank’s Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, told The Daily Signal.  

The U.S. is engaged in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.  

Trump knows Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons poses an “existential threat,” first to Israel, “but then also to America,” Coates said, explaining that if Israel is the “‘little Satan‘ and we’re the ‘big’ Satan in [the Iranian] worldview, if you get the ‘little Satan,’ you don’t stop there.” 

One of the options before the Trump administration is use of a targeted strike to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but some argue such a strike would lead to war between the U.S. and Iran. But Coates says similar strikes in the past have not led to a war.  

Last October, Israel struck and destroyed a nuclear weapons research facility in Iran. And in April 2024, an Israeli strike damaged an air-defense system in Iran. Neither incident led to a full-scale war between Israel and Iran.  

“I think we need to be, obviously, very cautious and judicious about our use of force, but we also can’t scare ourselves into inaction that could cost us dearly down the road,” Coates said.  

Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, was slated to meet with Iranian officials in Rome on May 3 for a fourth round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program, but the talks were postponed for “logistical reasons.”  

News of the postponed talks, which have yet to be rescheduled, came the same day Trump announced new “secondary sanctions” on countries that purchase Iranian oil.  

“All purchases of Iranian oil, or petrochemical products, must stop, NOW! Any country or person who buys any amount of oil or petrochemicals from Iran will be subject to, immediately, secondary sanctions,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social.  

“They will not be allowed to do business with the United States of America in any way, shape, or form,” the president added.  

Trump’s new secondary sanctions will directly affect China, the world’s largest importer of Iranian oil.