On Iran, Trump is committing the cardinal sin from the ‘Art of the Deal’

Near the end of the Obama administration’s negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump chimed in with some advice from his book “The Art of the Deal.”

“Message to Obama: Iran: ‘The worst thing you can do in a deal is to appear desperate to do it’” Posted on Twitter.

Trump and his administration are now committing this cardinal sin in their efforts to achieve their own nuclear deal with Iran.

In fact, they seem to have given up even demanding their rights Memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran It is a positive document for the USA. The Trump administration is making it clear that they want to get out of this war.

Trump prevails desire to put oneself out It has been open for a long time; has repeatedly backed away from its threats, downplayed Iran’s provocations, and resisted a return to large-scale hostilities.

However, in the last 24 hours, this attitude has shifted from subtext to text.

The administration has repeatedly suggested that the MoU is about catering to Iran.

Perhaps the most striking were the comments made by the management without citing sources.

“The consensus of the team was that we wanted to get this done, and the deal was the way to do it in a way that maximized our upside and minimized our downside,” said an administration official directly involved in the talks. he told CNN’s Alayna Treene.

Wanting to “get this done” sounds a lot like what Trump warned about in 2015.

And if that quote doesn’t raise your eyebrows, witness the US official encouraging people “Not reading too much into the language of the Memorandum of Understanding” They called it a “political document.”

“More important than the actual document is our understanding with each other,” the official added.

Trump’s negotiating team “developed language that allows (Iran) to say what it needs to say for its domestic policies,” the official added.

Trump reiterated this at a press conference at the G7 summit in France on Wednesday.

“Some things aren’t even mentioned in the agreement,” Trump said, adding: “But we understand some things without writing them down. And if they don’t accept it, we’ll probably go back to bombing them until they comply.”

This is a surprising level of return. Suddenly, management’s negotiations must be judged not by what they actually produce but by the vibrations between the two parties.

Of course, it is now very easy to understand why they took this line. The agreement announced by the United States on Wednesday includes The USA made many concessions to Iran – Including urgent ones that will enrich Tehran. Meanwhile, Iran’s concessions essentially consist of a return to its pre-war situation by opening the Strait of Hormuz and (again) pledging not to acquire nuclear weapons.

And the claim that this is about meeting the political needs of the Iranians certainly does not sound like the United States is negotiating from a position of strength and imposing its will.

Then there was Trump at the G7 on Wednesday, where he said conspicuously that his agreement was necessary to prevent a “worldwide depression.”

“The alternative would be a worldwide depression,” he said. “You know, stupid people want to have a worldwide depression. And they’re stupid people.”

Trump added: “You can only go so far. You destroy somebody, a lot of bad things happen. First, the strait never opens because they don’t like billion-dollar ships floating up and down the strait with rockets flying over them and mines everywhere. The strait… doesn’t stay open for long.”

That’s about as forthright as the President can make in acknowledging that Iran’s influence is too much and he needs to cut bait and do what he can.

There’s still a lot to negotiate. This is actually the beginning of the process and Much tougher negotiations are planned for the next 60 days After the agreement was officially signed on Friday.

But it’s shocking for the author of “The Art of the Deal” and his management to rhetorically concede so much pressure in advance.

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