Richard Miniter

So they think time is on their side and they have the powerful position.

Why should they compromise and yield now?

And the welfare of the people is simply not a concern at all.

I mean, 70% of Iran suffers electricity and water shortages.

The inflation rate is climbing towards 40% per month.

Counterfeiting has become a real issue.

Their global market for oil is disappearing and their source of foreign capital is, you know, by any, pick your favorite measure, they're losing in all of them.

If they cared at all about maximizing the welfare of their people, they would be acting differently.

But the fact of the matter is that those things, you know, are the temperature in Peru as far as they're concerned.

They're numbers about distant, unimportant matters.

So the question that Trump faces in Iran is ironically the same question he faces in fighting Harvard, in fighting the trade deals and so on.

How do you remove an entrenched elite that benefits from the current situation and thinks it has a right to rule forever when it is neglecting the people that it claims to speak for who are clearly suffering?

He has that problem in Iran, he has that problem in domestic politics, he has that problem in trade politics, he has that problem with China, and so on.

How to detach the meat from the host it lives on, from the parasite that is living off the body, right?

How do you do that?

What makes you think the deal is different?

Probably Trump does too.

I don't think at the strategic level there is a significant difference between how Trump and Netanyahu see the Israeli and U.S.

interests.

I think it's useful theater.