Observing President Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran conflict since the April 8 ceasefire has become rather like being forced to watch the same bad movie again and again. The script never varies: Iran behaves badly, Trump responds with a threat of dramatic retaliation, but within hours of the scheduled massive attack, some Gulf states tell him that Iran is ready for a deal, and he cancels.Yet when Trump opens a negotiation expecting the positive attitude toward a deal he was led to expect — surprise, surprise — he finds instead that he was misled, as Iran reverts to much the same obstinate stance that provoked his threats in the first place. We’ve seen this dumb movie at least five times already. How many more times will we have to sit through it?
Obviously aware that this scenario was becoming ridiculous, Trump declared: “Last chance!” That amounted to a maximal threat, one yet more menacing than all its predecessors. It suggested that this time, with no ifs, ands, or buts, Iran would definitely pay a huge price if it didn’t begin to negotiate in good faith. But — Who would have thought it? — Iran’s response to this latest and definitive warning was to become more obdurate than ever. It made all the same demands it had previously made for opening the Strait of Hormuz, and then piled on some more.
