Why is Biden copying Obama’s mistakes with Iran?

There was a picture taken on Tuesday that says more than just a thousand words. The photograph was snapped in Sharm el-Sheikh and shows Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett seated either side of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

According to the Egyptian president’s office, they met to discuss ‘the repercussions of global developments, especially with regard to energy, market stability, and food security’ but ‘they also exchanged visions and views on the latest developments of several international and regional issues’. That’s a very wordy way of saying ‘Iran’.

Iran is what this meeting was about and specifically about putting on a united front as Washington endeavours once more to reach a deal to prevent a nuclear Iran. Israel, Egypt and the Emiratis are alarmed because nothing that has been heard so far from these latest talks (and that is not very much at all) suggests the United States has learned its lesson from the initial Iran deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).