The Talmud says that after the fall of the first Temple prophecy ceased in Israel (Yoma 9b, Sanhedrin 11a, Sotah 48b.).
But things improved after the return and the rebuilding of the Temple, not least of which is the disappearance of idolatry from Israel. So on what basis does the Talmud say that? Why can't there be more prophets even before the Messianic age? The sages have no control over this matter.
Some user by the name of wfb states this answer to the question “No yetzer hara of idolatry, so no nevuah?”
https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/11470
The best known source for this connection is the Gra's commentary on Seder Olam Rabba ch. 30: The Seder Olam refers to the cessation of prophecy at the time of Alexander the Great: הוא אלכסנדר מוקדון שמלך י"ב שנה. עד כאן היו הנביאים מתנבאים ברוה"ק מכאן ואילך הט אזנך ושמע דברי חכמים. The Gra in his commentary explains: פירוש משהרגו יצר הרע, בטלה הנבואה. This idea is often cited by R. Tzadok ha-kohen mi-Lublin in his seforim. R. Betzalel Naor in his Lights of Prophecy, pp. 22-23, cites an earlier source in Sefer Hasidim: When signs were being performed by the prophets of Ba'al, if the prophets of the Lord would not have produced signs, the people would have turned to idolatry. Once the inclination to idolatry was eradicated, a prophet was no longer required.
I n Guide for the Perplexed 2:36 Rambam discusses the physical, emotional, and intellectual prerequisites to prophecy. At the conclusion of the chapter he explains that loss of the prerequisites caused the loss of prophecy, and also points to Scriptural allusions:
The same circumstance, prevalence of sadness and dulness, was undoubtedly the direct cause of the interruption of prophecy during the exile: for can there be any greater misfortune for man than this: to be a slave bought for money in the service of ignorant and voluptuous masters, and powerless against them as they unite in themselves the absence of true knowledge and the force of all animal desires? Such an evil state has been prophesied to us in the words, "They shall run to and fro to seek the word of God, but shall not find it" (Amos viii. 12); "Her king and her princes are among the nations, the law is no more, her prophets also find no vision from the Lord" (Lam. ii. 9). This is a real fact, and the cause is evident; the pre-requisites [of prophecy] have been lost. In the Messianic period--may it soon commence--prophecy will therefore again be in our midst, as has been promised by God.
The Sages of the Talmud may have read these verses and noticed these observable phenomena.
G-d created the world and placed in it the laws of nature and no longer interferes in human affairs. G-d is transcendent. But the Bible seems to state the opposite, that G-d communicated with prophets. However, Maimonides says that prophecy is a higher level of intelligence. He also said that whenever the Bible says G-d said or did something, G-d did not actually say or do it. It is figurative language; G-d did not say or do what the Bible says he did. Rabbi Goodman writes that G-d does not speak to prophets. Thus, G-d never communicated with prophets.
Tradition states that Malachi was the last of the prophets. This explains why there are no prophets today. But the Bible never states that prophecy has ceased. Actually, there are still people with a higher understanding today. Thus, prophecy did not cease; it is ongoing.
