Trump arrived in France in high spirits. His Sunday night UFC fights at the White House had gone off smoothly - see the pictures. And he had, at long last, secured an agreement with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting the US naval blockade on Iran, while setting out a framework for further negotiation over Tehran's nuclear programme.
"I'm the boss," he said in his typical joking-not-joking style, as he walked into Wednesday's first meeting an hour behind schedule.
He called the Iran agreement "fair" and "good" and said "it should be successful". During the three-day G7 summit, Trump tried to sell American allies on the plan's benefits and enlist their aid in securing the peace.
French and British leaders have talked about contributing naval vessels to help reopen the strait now that hostilities have stopped. And in meetings with Arab leaders, Trump made a pitch for financial support for the rebuilding effort.
Trump said he would submit the final negotiated agreement to Congress for its approval, setting up a potentially nasty fight with Iran hawks in Republican ranks.
The president contends that his deal is unlike the one the Obama administration made with the Iranians back in 2015 - find out how their approaches differed here. But the core of the two agreements is the same. Iran agrees to limits on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. There will be a monitoring requirement, a plan for Iran's stores of enriched uranium and an Iranian promise not to seek a nuclear weapon. A new twist is a reported $300bn (£224bn) fund - sourcing to be determined - to help Iranian reconstruction after the war.
That will be a bitter pill to swallow for some Republicans, who have been hoping for regime change or negotiations to address Iran's ballistic missile programme and support for regional proxies.
Trump officials say Iran now knows the consequences of continued intransigence. That may be. But they also know the negotiating power they have through their control of Hormuz.
The takeaway: With difficult negotiations still to come and Iran hawks back home uneasy, Trump's work to end the war is far from finished. |
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