Ooh, allow me to explain: In announcing snap-back UN sanctions on Iran this afternoon, President Trump is demonstrating that his administration is using PM al-Kadhimi’s visit as a prop, and that the Agency’s Iran Mission Center is in the lead. This president is surely a bold one!

Al-Kadhimi’s DC boosters may have wanted to use a meeting with President Trump as a prop to showcase the former’s importance to an Iraqi and regional audience. But they don’t know how this WH operates; Trump pulled off a switcheroo. Now the optics look like that of a trap.

A bold president likes bold plans, and this is where the Iran Mission Center comes in. America’s hasn’t had a policy for three months now. America has gone prawling for a brawl. This is the basis for Trump’s recurring talking point that Iran will tap out within weeks of his win.

My assessment has been that lots of the Iranian ruling elite don’t want to believe that they’re in the receiving end of a bare knuckle pummeling. Lots in DC also didn’t seem to understand the mechanics and timing of snap-back. That’s why so many didn’t see it coming.