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Ok, finally got to read all the details in this @SangerNYT story. Apart from the many...oddities that others have pointed out, here& #39;s another: why would Iran come back to the table before the election? 1/ https://twitter.com/SangerNYT/status/1254532939964088331">https://twitter.com/SangerNYT...
See this line: "The entire drama could play out this autumn in the weeks before the presidential election, setting up a potential confrontation with Iran in the midst of the contest." 2/
Also: "the administration’s larger plan may...[be] to force Tehran to give up any pretense of preserving the [JCPOA]. Only by shattering it, many senior administration officials say, will [Iran] be forced to negotiate an entirely new agreement more to Mr. Trump’s liking." 3/
But as @KSchultz3580 has argued, polarization (and Trump& #39;s own behavior) has made credible commitments much harder for the US. Why would Iran let itself be an October surprise? Why would they negotiate months/weeks before knowing who wins the election? https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0163660X.2017.1406705">https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1... 4/
Yeah, they wouldn& #39;t. Almost as if the real goal is...something else. Paging Downes and O& #39;Rourke in @monkeycageblog https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/07/31/some-in-d-c-want-regime-change-in-iran-good-luck-with-that/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monk... 5/
And just in case a new deal in October(ish) is actually the goal, see @Nick_L_Miller in @monkeycageblog on why that& #39;s so...unlikely. 6/END https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/01/15/trump-is-still-pushing-new-nuclear-deal-with-iran-how-likely-is-that/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...
PS -- assuming there are political calculations here, this is all to say nothing of whether voters would care about an Iran crisis if the election is all about COVID, etc.
