Failure of US-Iran talks is a blow to hopes of finding an off-ramp to crisis

Holy f***, are we best friends now because that's exactly where I'm at.

I mean, acting crazy is part of his known negotiation tactics... doesn't mean he's acting here. I truly think Trump has dementia at this point.

What a place that was. I all but forgot about it.

Turns out if you add enough dimensions you end up back at checkers.

Believe me, Trump will not care.

Maybe JD wanted to visit good ol Pakistan for a vacation you know

JD says I can't talk about these private negotations. Reports ask what was the sticking point. JD reports that they won't give up any nuclear plans in the long and distant future so the conversations ended. SMH

In the long term? GCC bypass pipelines. In the short term? Higher oil prices and shipping redirects to USA and Canada (and Venezuela).

The devils advocate to the devils advocate, is that the US has to show some semblance of restraint because of how unpopular this war is both domestically and internationally. Right now the threat of attack is more optimal than actually following through it. If the international opinion turns on Iran, I think we’d expect a lot more bombings that muddy the line of what’s a true military target.

Patient with whom exactly? Iran can and will continue to leverage their asymmetrical advantage here. Don't be crazy. The real question is the economics of their response. Gulf states are going to have to weigh the cost of incrementally corporation with Iran (paying their toll) or suffer irregular extreme events you can't effectively defend against and cost virtually nothing to kick off.

Economic sanctions (or equivalent) never worked to get a regime change. The people will suffer and the regime will stay in place. Many many examples of this.

That'd result in pretty strong backlash on the GCC nations. Unlike Iran they aren't economically, diplomatically or militarily insulated from the West. There's also the risk that all those nations end up in a shit fight, wreck all the oil and gas infrastructure, blow up the desalination plants and millions die.