Last Tuesday, US President Donald Trump told journalists that the United States and Iran are "in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal".
On Wednesday, after an American helicopter gunship crashed in the Strait of Hormuz, presumably downed by Iranians, he declared angrily that "They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!"
And later on the same day, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqai took on the role of the only grown-up in the room, saying that the United States is "damaging the diplomatic process through the contradictory messages it sends, its repeated shifts in positions and demands, and, worst of all, through repeated violations of the ceasefire".
