Dr. Trita Parsi

And then he may actually take the deal that was on the table, the deal that is way better.

than what Obama managed to secure and that Trump nevertheless rejected.

And then he may take that and then suddenly declare that a victory and say that thanks to my bombing campaign, we achieved this, even though the Omani foreign minister made very clear that this is already on the table and you are rejecting it.

You're going for a war of choice.

There is that other scenario as well.

I don't find it to be as likely, but it's very difficult to put any numbers on it, which is that after a couple of rounds, both sides feel that they can go back to the negotiating table

with their faces having been saved and they may actually be able to go back to the same agreement as existed before the same offer on the table but both of them can say that you know now we got it because of this exchange trump can claim that he bombed them that he was very successful the iranians can claim that they struck back they were very successful and they come to some sort of agreement the reason why i think that's going to be difficult though is that at this point

We've always said that there's no trust between the US and Iran, but there's never, ever been less trust than there is now.

And as a result, even if they were to come to some form of agreement, it does seem to me extremely difficult that the deal actually would be implemented, that it would endure, that it would be anything more than essentially a ceasefire with a pretense of having a deal beyond that.

Absolutely not.

Their interest is very different in all of this.

If I could say just one thing on that, I think the Israelis have an interest to really push that narrative that this was a ruse from the outset, that this was already planned because they do want to destroy America's credibility as a diplomatic force, as a negotiator, because they were against these negotiations in the first place.

And the more you push the narrative that this was a lie from the outset, the more easily you can avoid any future negotiations.

I'm not convinced that it really was.

I think there were elements, I think there was some sincerity, but ultimately Trump fell for the type of pressure that he has proven himself to be far too susceptible towards.

That doesn't mean that this wasn't a ruse at some point.

This doesn't mean that this is in any way, shape or form forgivable or that it is not illegal.

But I think we have to recognize nothing would serve the Israeli interest more than to completely destroy America's credibility as a negotiating partner.

because that would avoid all of these headaches that the Israelis have had at various points in the United States have actually looked for diplomatic exit routes.