The Iran Deal Trump Let Slip Away

His negotiators didn't understand the deal Iran was inching towards accepting in the Geneva negotiations last February. The result is a war that leaves everyone paying the price.

President Trump likes to go with his “gut.” But it didn’t work in Iran, I argue in my latest From Across the Pond column. You can read the entire column at Politico Europe. But I would like to expand on its main argument by highlighting one issue in particular.

While there are many reasons why Trump’s gut let him down this time, one in particular stands out: the pre-war diplomacy conducted by his inexperienced team of loyalists was a disaster. A good deal — likely better than President Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement — might well have been had through negotiations. But Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner didn’t seem to grasp the opportunity before them. The result is an unnecessary war that will likely end with Iran more committed to getting nuclear weapons than before. Moreover, if the war ends with a negotiation, the final deal on nuclear issues is likely to be no better, if not actually worse, than what the pre-war negotiations could have accomplished.

Let me explain.