Retired US general Mark Kimmitt said he believes President Trump’s public
comments may inadvertently hand negotiating leverage to Tehran. Kimmitt said
Trump has shown impatience—“every two or three days announced two or three
times that we will reach a deal in two or three days”—signaling a lack of
patience that Iran is exploiting and using to provoke him, “perhaps not on the
battlefield but certainly at the diplomatic negotiating table.” He added Trump
has tended to respond “not at the diplomatic table but through military force.”
