America’s war with Iran is at an impasse. President Donald Trump’s unfulfilled threats to launch a “major strike” are partly to blame. By constantly promising to strike the Islamic Republic only to back off at the last moment, Trump has undercut America’s leverage and made Iran less, not more, likely to negotiate in good faith.

The United States went to war for all the right reasons. Trump has been clear and consistent that Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, must not obtain nuclear weapons. But Tehran refuses to set aside its nuclear ambitions or its millenarian ambitions to destroy Israel and conquer the Middle East.