Six months on, Trump’s Iran strategy is starting to pay off

What the report says

Al Jazeera published an opinion piece on 28 August 2026 arguing that President Donald Trump’s Iran policy is beginning to yield results after roughly six months of conflict between the United States and Iran. The article says sustained US military and economic pressure has weakened Tehran’s leverage, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran previously tried to influence shipping and oil flows. It also says Iran’s oil exports through the waterway have fallen under US naval pressure and that alternative routes, including an Omani corridor backed by Washington, are drawing some traffic.

The piece says the main military gains have come from June 2025 strikes on Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan, which it says damaged Iran’s ability to turn enriched uranium into material needed for weapons and reduced its centrifuge production capacity. At the same time, it notes that Iran is still working at Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried site that analysts believe could help rebuild parts of the nuclear program. That continuing construction is presented as one reason the article says the conflict remains unresolved.

The author argues that previous efforts to secure pauses in April and June failed because Tehran did not negotiate in good faith, and says Washington is now relying more on sanctions, naval pressure and the threat of further strikes than on an immediate diplomatic breakthrough. The article also says the war has hurt Iran’s economy and disrupted global energy markets, while making a wider regional security arrangement with Gulf partners more important. The author writes that the US has not won the war, but believes it is now in a stronger position than at the start.