When President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, he inherited a hot mess. To name a few of the fires, runaway inflation, rising consumer prices, widespread crime, and an open southern border all plagued our nation.

Amongst the plethora of problems Trump inherited are hotspots around the world where regional conflicts could turn into global war. One of these hotspots is Iran, a country whose desire to become a nuclear power was thwarted for many years, only to have American presidents pave the way for their nuclear ambitions.

Instead of putting pressure on Iran’s leaders, Barack Obama and Joe Biden gave them a nuclear deal and ransom money for hostages to boot. This appalling appeasement of Iran only emboldened them to grow into a legitimate threat to the region and global stability. Now, as Miranda Devine writes at the New York Post, “After four years of shady appeasement by the Biden administration, Iran’s bloodthirsty regime is under pressure again — and just in the nick of time, before it finesses its nuclear weapons capability.”

That capability is stronger than ever.

“Iran has sharply increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in recent weeks, according to a confidential United Nations report, as Tehran amasses a critical raw material for atomic weapons,” reports The Wall Street Journal. “Iran is now producing enough fissile material in a month for one nuclear weapon, according to the report.”

Increased pressure is coming from the Trump administration, which finds itself responsible for cleaning up Obama and Biden’s mess and stopping the situation in the Middle East from exploding. Recently, President Trump sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, seeking a deal to keep Iran from further developing a nuclear program that’s reaching a critical point of no return.

Time magazine reports, “Trump’s overture comes as both Israel and the United States have warned they will never let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon, leading to fears of a military confrontation as Tehran enriches uranium at near weapons-grade levels — something only done by atomic-armed nations.”

In the letter, Trump vowed to pressure Iran to come to a deal regarding its nuclear program and asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to go for the jugular by crippling Iran’s economy. “Bessent accused Iran in a statement Thursday of using its oil revenues to fund the development of a nuclear program, produce ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles and support terrorist groups in the Middle East,” CNBC reports.

But sanctions alone may not suffice to impede Iran in continuing its nuclear program.

Politico reports, “Trump has said he prefers to make a deal with Iran rather than ‘bombing the hell out of it,’ but his top security adviser, Mike Waltz, stressed more recently that ‘all options’ remain on the table and that Washington will be satisfied with nothing less than a total dismantling of Tehran’s nuclear program.”

Still, Trump made this clear in his letter, of which he said, “Something is going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran — and I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”

Another approach to initiate change in Iran is from within by restoring democracy. According to Just the News, “[A] coalition of over 150 bipartisan lawmakers … introduced a bill that supports the Iranian people’s resistance movement, which is fighting for regime change in the Middle Eastern country. The resolution supports National Council of Resistance of Iran President-elect Maryam Rajavi’s 10-point plan for the future of Iran, which hopes to establish a secular, democratic and non-nuclear Iranian republic.”

It’s a complicated situation that requires strong leadership, but Trump wants peace above all else. Is there any reasoning with Iran?

“Even Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, in a speech in September opened the door to talks with the U.S., saying there is ‘no harm’ in engaging with the ‘enemy,’” according to PBS. His “enemy” at the time, though, was helping to fund all of the Iranian octopus arms of terror. He may have changed his tune now that he has a real enemy. Time will tell.

There might be a glimmer of hope. Just last month, Reuters reported, “Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that U.S. concerns about Iran developing nuclear weapons were not a complicated issue and could be resolved given Tehran’s opposition to weapons of mass destruction.” Or maybe he’s just blowing a lot of hot air.

Either way, as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Those actions were a lost cause as long as Obama and Biden gave Iran a long leash, but President Trump’s strong leadership might be enough to shorten that leash a lot. If he can pull it off, the world will be a safer place, and Trump might just cement his place in history as one of the singular presidents of peace.