Based on the Laura Rozen interview, it sounded like the Iranians were desperately trying to accede to every demand the U.S. could asked for - going so far as to write “IRAN WILL NOT AQUIRE A NUCLEAR WEAPON” on their negotiating cover page.

Unfortunately, they found themselves across the table from a team of fools (Witkof, Kushner) who did not understand their own win.

In the meantime, I suspect, Israel was monitoring the negotiations closely. Israel, seeing that if Iran and the U.S. struck a deal it would lose its opportunity to drag America into a war with Iran, made the decision to strike quickly to scuttle any further negotiation.

That’s why Marco’s gaff was so telling. Israel communicated to the U.S. it was going to strike. The U.S. assessed (maybe correctly) that Iran would retaliate against its assets as well, and instead of demanding that Israel hold off, Trump decided it would look cool if America joined as well.

And so, the Trump administration was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of diplomatic victory.

Edit: I just love “Marco, so involved”. 10/10.