Iran Takes Trump’s Negotiators for a Ride

Excerpt

The nuclear negotiations between Iran and the U.S. appear to be at an impasse. The temptation for President Trump will be to declare victory and pocket a status quo in which Tehran refrains from testing a nuke. The White House may even find comfort in a question senior officials in the Biden administration asked themselves: Why hasn’t Iran already gone nuclear?

The Trump administration entered negotiations without clear positions on crucial issues, surprising and cheering the Iranian side. But Tehran’s happiness was short-lived. Negotiators Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently declared that uranium enrichment in Iran is unacceptable. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, hasn’t broken off talks, indicating hope that Mr. Trump will change his mind or won’t preclude an interim deal that allows domestic enrichment.

Mr. Gerecht is a resident scholar at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Mr. Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.