Opinion | Donald Trump doesn’t want war with Iran. But he’s backed himself into a corner

We have a president who says that he is a stable genius. He says everyone loves him. He says he’s the best deal-maker ever, the best negotiator in the whole world. Well, I wouldn’t dare speak to our president’s IQ – I have no idea. But the latter three issues are false: He’s not a deal-maker, he’s a deal-breaker. Whether you look at climate change, whether you look at the Trans-Pacific Partnership, whether you look at the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the Iran nuclear deal), whether you look at the North American Free Trade Deal (Nafta), he’s a deal-breaker, not a deal-maker.

The United States left the nuclear deal for two reasons – one, it was negotiated by President Barack Obama and anything he has touched, our current president cannot stand.

The other reason is that, to some extent, we have subcontracted our Middle East policy to Saudi Arabia. This is a fact. When you talk to the Saudis, as I do quite often in the Middle East, the fact of the matter is that you cannot go an hour without hearing the phrase, “you must cut off the head of the snake”, which means you must do something about Iran. It is a constant refrain.

Iran and the US have been on a collision course since 1953, but both sides have been able to, in large part, restrain ourselves. We’ve had problems, but were able to moderate and ameliorate these problems. We’re not on the verge of war.