Jonathan Lemire: “President Trump lost. The war he waged against Iran promises to conclude in a humbling whimper with the signing of a cease-fire agreement later this week. The United States is left weaker—diminished militarily, strategically, economically, and perhaps morally.”

“The war, which the United States fought alongside Israel, accomplished none of the goals that Trump named at the outset. Instead, it only empowered the hard-liners in Tehran and arguably emboldened them to someday seek a nuclear weapon. Despite that, the president was so desperate for the war to end that he repeatedly backed off his threats—allowing Iran to call his bluff—and upbraided his close ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for responding to attacks in the region in a manner that jeopardized the negotiations.”

“Trump won’t admit to any of this. He has spent recent days furiously spinning the tentative deal as a clear win, and has seethed at unflattering comparisons with the deal that President Obama struck with Iran more than a decade ago, aides and outside advisers told me.”

“The deal with Iran will go down as one of the most incompetent ever made. The U.S. lost on virtually every point. We just don’t win anymore!”

— President Trump, on Twitter in 2015.

Bloomberg has the full text of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran on ending the war.

Playbook: “The text says the war will end on all fronts, including in Lebanon. The U.S. will immediately lift the blockade on Iran’s ports and remove all military presence within 30 days of a final agreement. Sanctions and embargoes on Iran will also be lifted immediately, allowing the regime to restart selling oil. And a ‘comprehensive plan’ to reconstruct Iran — with at least $300 billion of outside investment — will be agreed within 60 days.”

“In return, Iran will pledge to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days and formally reiterate that it will never produce nuclear weapons. (These were, of course, their positions before the war began.) But there’s no clear commitment about Iran’s nuclear material, which will be subject to further discussion pending a final agreement in 60 days’ time. And there’s no mention of Iranian shipping tolls, Iranian proxies, Iranian missile depots, Iranian democracy, or any of the other issues touted as possible war aims since the American bombing began on Feb. 28.”

“Trump’s critics are already framing the deal as a total capitulation.”

“President Trump’s Iran deal has opened an explosive second front in MAGA’s civil war, waged by hawkish allies who view U.S. concessions as an existential betrayal of Israel,” Axios reports.

President Trump said Wednesday at the G7 conference that the U.S. will “go right back to dropping bombs” if he doesn’t like the Iran deal, CNBC reports.

Said Trump: “It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their heads. I don’t like it if they don’t behave. We’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head.”

Washington Post: “On Wednesday night, Trump will dine at what he acknowledges as the gold standard: Versailles, the enormous, gilded French palace that was home to Louis XIV, the self-appointed Sun King whose embrace of golden grandeur has long fascinated the U.S. president.”

“French President Emmanuel Macron invited Trump to join him at the palace, about 15 miles southwest of Paris, in a bid to extend the U.S. president’s stay in France.”