President Biden's trip to the Middle East this week inadvertently underscores the fact that at least three big promises he made before taking office have been abandoned or remain unfulfilled.
Driving the news: The Iran deal hasn't been restored, Biden is heading to the country he vowed to make a "pariah," and the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem is still closed.
1. Restoring the Iran deal
The Iran nuclear deal is still in tatters despite the fact that restoring it was arguably candidate Biden's only first-tier policy objective toward the region.
Standing alongside acting Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday, Biden pledged not to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, while noting that he still hoped to resolve the crisis diplomatically.
- With talks stalled, Iran has continued to accelerate its nuclear activity. Biden's aides have been insisting for months that the window to salvage the deal is closing. It's not clear what exactly plan B might entail.
- Biden has taken flak from advocates of the deal for declining to invest much political capital into saving it and for refusing to meet Iran's demand to lift Donald Trump's largely symbolic terror designation for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- Biden said Thursday that the U.S. offer to re-enter the deal was already on the table, while warning Tehran "we’re not going to wait forever."
2. Making Saudi Arabia a "pariah"
Biden's Saudi stop stands in stark contrast to his campaign trail promise to make the kingdom a "pariah" over its human rights abuses, particularly the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Asked today if he'd raise Khashoggi...