Trump had no plan B for Iran. It shows | Kenneth Roth

D onald Trump claims to have mastered the Art of the Deal , but he has just given us a master class in negotiating incompetence. I would love to see an Iranian government that no longer represses its people, menaces its neighbors, or can build a nuclear weapon. Trump has set back all of these efforts. His cabinet of sycophants offered little resistance as he naively bombed first and faced reality later. Trump is reviewing and tinkering with a proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) drafted by American and Iranian diplomats with the aid of Pakistan and Qatar. It would continue the current ceasefire for 60 days while a more permanent peace accord is negotiated. The precise contours of this preliminary agreement are not known, but its gist seems clear – and is a profound embarrassment for Trump. His unprovoked war of choice has accomplished all of nothing. A new approach is urgently needed. The best way to assess Trump’s quandary is by comparing it with what a less bellicose approach might have secured. Trump says he wants to deny Iran a nuclear weapon, but Tehran has repeatedly disavowed that goal. Rather, the real issue, given broad distrust of Iran’s clerical leaders, is how to prohibit them from obtaining the means to build a bomb. That’s what Barack Obama’s 2015 deal with the Iranians did. The joint comprehensive plan of action, or JCPOA, curtailed their nuclear program subject to intrusive international inspections. …