Meet Iran. Again.

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. 

I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. 

As we’ve been reporting today, President Trump used this week’s NATO summit in Turkey to close the book on his Memorandum of Understanding with Iran.

BROWN: WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says the agreement may be finished—the more important question is whether Washington has finally learned why it failed.

CAL THOMAS: President Trump has never lacked confidence in his ability to make a deal. But after his Memorandum of Understanding with Iran fell apart, a reporter asked him directly whether there was anything left to save.

TRUMP: As far as I’m concerned, it’s over… They have to come back to me … As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They’re liars.

Readers of my syndicated newspaper column may recall that less than three weeks ago I questioned the MOU and the administration’s insistence that it represented a victory for the United States and world peace.

At the time, Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, was celebrating the agreement as a victory for Tehran and promising the beginning of what he called the “greater jihad.”

The Trump administration told us Iran would get nothing unless it met our conditions.

Iran apparently had other ideas.

Iranian forces again attacked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. United States responded with renewed strikes on small boats, radar sites, and facilities used to store drones and missiles.

At a news conference with the president in Turkey, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte described the sequence this way:

RUTTE: And then trying to bring this to a peaceful end, and they attacking ships yesterday, I think what you did last night was absolutely necessary. It was a very strong response, and I’m with you on this.

So much for the MOU.

Last month, Trump called Iran’s leaders “very rational,” “nice,” and “smart.”

At his final news conference in Ankara, a New York Times reporter reminded him of those words and asked what changed.

TRUMP: I got to know ’em. … Based on their actions over the last week or two, they’re not—they’re not doing a service to the people. And I think more than anything else, as I got to know ’em, and I’m not sure I want to make a deal with them. We can play games, but I’m not sure I want to make a deal. Let’s just finish the job.

The rest of us have had 47 years to get to know them. Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the regime has shown us who they are and what they believe. They chant “Death to America.” They threaten Israel with destruction. They sponsor terrorists and supplied weapons that killed and maimed American troops.

The problem is not that Iran suddenly changed after signing an MOU. The problem is that too many American presidents have believed they might persuade Iran’s rulers to become something they are not.

Barack Obama tried it with his nuclear deal and billions of dollars in sanctions relief. Trump rightly withdrew from that agreement during his first term.

Which makes his recent faith in another agreement all the more puzzling.

When critics questioned the MOU last month, Trump called them “fools.” Without his agreement, he predicted markets might collapse at levels unseen since 1929.

Perhaps we “fools” now deserve an apology.

More important is what happens next.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, traveling with the president, says the administration is prepared to impose more consequences.

HEGSETH: Anything they thought they had rebuilt or capability they were using was a target last night. And tonight, if we need to, on your order, Mr. President, we will hit even more and even deeper, because that’s the consequence.

Iran’s rulers understand consequences. For nearly half a century, they have tested American presidents to see how much terrorism, hostage-taking, and aggression we will tolerate.

Now comes the hard part: convincing Iran’s rulers that America means what its president says. 

After 47 years, another memorandum won’t do it.

For WORLD, I’m Cal Thomas.

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