Bombs, Bargains and Bluster: Trump’s Iran Approach Sows Confusion

Three months after President Trump launched war on Iran, his seemingly haphazard approach to the conflict is bewildering allies at home and abroad as he veers between diplomatic dealing, military strikes and increasingly far-fetched ideas.

It is possible that Mr. Trump is near a breakthrough in the form of what both sides call an interim agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin detailed talks on Iran’s nuclear program. But U.S. officials said on Thursday that Mr. Trump had not yet signed off on the agreement, and several others like it have fallen apart.

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“The ceasefire has become rather farcical,” said Michael Makovsky, the president and chief executive of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, a Washington-based think tank that promotes hawkish pro-Israel policies. “It has reduced U.S. leverage for a good deal, and made America look weak — that we’re vulnerable if gasoline prices go above $5.”

“No deal with this regime will be worth the paper it’s written on, and better to end this war with a bang than a whimper,” added Mr. Makovsky, who urged Mr. Trump to resume strikes against Iran’s military and its nuclear sites while continuing a blockade of Iranian oil exports.

Read the full article in the New York Times.