Analysis: Trump's war with Iran has been a tragic and expensive waste of time
By Mark Stone, US correspondent
In covering Trump, the past day has been one of the wildest days.
The meandering and staggeringly contradictory news conference, and the trumpeting of a "deal" that amounts to something so far short of that.
And then, just as the day ended, we were told that Trump had signed the "deal" – which added to the bewilderment.
Because an "administration official" (you can guess who) told us on Monday that Trump had signed the "deal" on Sunday (remotely – with the autopen he's spent every week bashing Biden about?).
This is what we were told on a background call on Monday:
"So, first of all, we have now signed some understanding with Iran; the president and I both signed it, Speaker Ghalibaf on the other side signed it, and the memorandum provides a few basic things…."
So the deal which was signed on Sunday was signed again in Versailles on Wednesday and is still due to be signed in person by the vice president on Friday.
There has been a breathtaking level of lopsided diplomacy. It's been truly bewildering.
My favourite part has been how adeptly subtle the rest of the G7 leaders' eye-rolling has been. There's been some real diplomatic skill there.
The other leaders can't criticise. They know the wrath that will hit them. But we know that they know it's been a disastrous shambles.
It's truly a shame and a stain on America. Often it takes a while for the dust to settle on mad war choices. Not this time. We knew before this war began.
So many schoolchildren died in Minab. For what? Trump couldn't even admit that the strike was America's mistake (it was, by the way – sources have told me that, but their political masters haven't the guts to admit it yet).
This Iran war has been a tragic and expensive waste of time that neither limits Iran's malign influence nor makes America great again.
