What began as a powerful attack on Iran has led to a more defiant regime claiming victory, and a nightmare for the US and Israel. How did it happen?

While Donald Trump flaunts his success in reaching an agreement with Iran, the self-described master of the art of the deal appears to be the loser in what could be his most important transaction as president – a deal that weakens America’s image and makes Israel dangerously vulnerable.

Ironically, the Memo of Understanding (MOU) between the US and Iran should actually be known as the Memo of Misunderstanding, the tragic result of Trump’s lack of recognition of the serious gap between Washington and Jerusalem in terms of the goals and motivation for the ill-fated war with Iran that was launched almost four months ago.

For Israel, the war was seen as a unique opportunity to finally and decisively defeat Iran militarily and politically, eliminating the existential nuclear cloud that has been hanging over the Jewish state since the Iranian jihadist revolution 47 years ago, and opening a path for regime change from within the country’s oppressed population. It was a tall order, but Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has been warning the free world of the dangers of a nuclear Iran for more than three decades, recognized that Trump was the only president in the foreseeable future willing to join Israel in such a bold military act.

For Trump, though, taking on Iran was less about saving Israel from the threat of extinction than about his larger desire to dominate countries that could provide financial and/or natural resources and solidify the global image of an all-powerful America – and its president. Ignoring the lessons of America’s failure in its attempt to bring about regime change in Iraq through war, Trump no doubt was thinking of his recent success in ousting the leader of oil-rich Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, in a swift and successful raid that brought him to the US to stand trial. The president has said he would personally control the proceeds from the sales of Venezuelan oil to make sure they are being used to “benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States,” though his history prompts suspicion that he........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)