Trump leaves Europe in the cold in the Rocky Mountains, and Iran with a stark choice

Trump sought to underline European irrelevance in the Middle East crisis. Everything rests on what he proposes

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Discussing the dilemma facing western diplomats in confronting Iran’s nuclear programme, Henry Kissinger wrote in 2006: “Diplomacy never operates in a vacuum. It persuades not by the eloquence of its practitioners but by assembling a balance of incentives and risks.”

Rarely has the balance of incentives and risks been placed so starkly in front of Iran’s leaders as now.