Tomorrow, Friday June 19, will mark yet another historic day in the international community’s decades-long preoccupation with Iran’s nuclear program—an assumed ghoul that, despite endless Western hyperbole, never actually materialized into a weapon. With the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Geneva between Washington and Tehran, the true history being made tomorrow is not the substance of the agreement itself, but the spectacular, ironic collapse of Washington’s “Maximum Pressure” strategy—or rather Trump’s endless boasting about American power and his tactical use of force, besides calling himself the God of all deals!

It has taken Donald Trump five long years—counting his first term, a prolific barrage of senseless social media threats, and rhetoric warning that “whole civilisation will die tonight”—to state the obvious.

After bringing the Middle East to the precipice of a devastating, full-scale war and severely tarnishing America’s international reputation, the White House has arrived at the exact same conclusion reached by the Obama-Biden administration back in 2015.

After bringing the Middle East to the precipice of a devastating, full-scale war and severely tarnishing America’s international reputation, the White House has arrived at the exact same conclusion reached by the Obama-Biden administration back in 2015.

It is a conclusion that took the combined effort of the entire West, Russia, and China decades to solidify: Iran’s nuclear file can only be managed or suspended not ended, if ever, through sober negotiations, not bombardment.

For decades, the European Union and earlier US administrations operated under a pragmatic consensus: because Iran’s nuclear program is an indigenous, know-how reality rather than a simple logistical hurdle, it cannot be bombed out of existence. They understood that while facilities can be targeted, native scientific knowledge remains intact. Consequently, through all........

© Middle East Monitor