The Nuclear Deal That Never Was, Again
When former President Donald Trump declared his 'indirect' role in anticipated nuclear talks with Iran, the BBC offered this as a new development. He stated his belief that "Iran wants to make a deal," positioning himself as a benevolent, if backstage, influencer. This framing implies a fresh opportunity for diplomacy, perhaps even a potential de-escalation of tensions. Yet, this narrative
conveniently sidesteps history. Trump unilaterally abandoned the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018, a deal negotiated by previous administrations and endorsed by the UN Security Council. That move, driven by a desire to 'get a better deal,' unleashed a wave of crippling sanctions and directly escalated regional tensions, prompting Iran to incrementally scale back its commitments
in response to the West's failure to uphold its own. The subsequent 'maximum pressure' campaign achieved little beyond pushing Iran's nuclear program further forward and creating fertile ground for more regional instability. So, the 'desire for a deal' Trump now attributes to Iran rings hollow, given his administration's documented actions to dismantle the very framework designed to achieve one.
This is not statesmanship; it is a cyclical foreign policy of sabotage and then 'rescue,' where the US creates the problem it then offers to solve. This pattern, consistently ignored by mainstream outlets, is less about genuine pursuit of peace and more about leveraging manufactured crises for political gain, reminiscent of the 2003 Iraq war buildup, where fabrications amplified by outlets like