The deadline is midnight on Tuesday for a deal resulting from the latest round of nuclear talks between the United States, several other world powers and Iran, and – surprise! – it appears Iran is backing away from some of the terms. But at least the nations can look forward to a new round of talks led by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Several months ago, Iran tentatively agreed to send a large portion of its stockpile of enriched uranium to Russia, where it would be inaccessible for the Iranians to use in any future nuclear weapons program. However, Iran’s deputy foreign minister ruled out such an agreement, claiming, “The export of stocks of enriched uranium is not in our program, and we do not intend on sending them abroad.”

So much for the tentative agreement. So, on to Plan B, which according to Western officials consists of convincing Iran to blend the enriched uranium into a more diluted form that can’t be used as weapons-grade material – at least not until the process is reversed in a couple of weeks. Quite the diplomacy here; uh, you can keep the enriched uranium, but only if you dilute it. Political analyst Charles Krauthammer calls this “one cave after another.”

If Iran were to agree to option two, then the Obama administration will be swift to claim that as long as regular inspections are conducted all will be well. At least until Iran bans inspectors from entering the country – a move right out of North Korea’s playbook.

We aren’t sure why this news is surprising to anyone, given that Iran has long desired and pursued nuclear weapons capability. Why on earth would they want to give up the enriched uranium they have when it’s their stated goal to destroy Israel? Further, why is this administration so inept at dealing with rogue nations like Iran, which supports terrorism and has a long track record of breaking its word?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t at all impressed with the Iran nuclear negotiations, as he has warned all along. Netanyahu realizes that if Iran created a nuclear weapon, it would threaten his country. Regarding the nuclear talks, he told members of his cabinet, “This deal, as it appears to be emerging, bears out all of our fears, and even more than that.” He said Iran is trying to “conquer the entire Middle East,” citing the recent Iranian-allied advances in Yemen. Netanyahu went as far as condemning the talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, outright, stating that “the Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis is very dangerous to humanity, and must be stopped.”

Israel’s leader has the backbone to stand up to the Iranians, so why can’t the world’s major powers do the same? Because our “leaders” haven’t learned from previous talks with Iran.

As we’ve repeatedly noted, ever since it was discovered in 2003 that Iran had a nuclear program, Iran has used these bait-and-switch tactics. The United States and the major powers in Europe come to the negotiating table thinking they have a deal only to see Iran demand new concessions and blame the West for the impasse. More often than not, this ploy works. If and when the talks fail, the West has to regroup, and Iran continues to go on working toward having nuclear weapons capability. Over time, Iran makes demands for more concessions in order to come back to the table, all the while knowing it’s buying time for its nuclear weapons program.

Instead of acquiescing to Iran’s refusal to abide by any agreement, why not just lay out an offer and add or enhance sanctions upon Iran’s rejection? Well, that would require Netanyahu to be present, or the likes of Reagan or Churchill.

Obama and his diplomatic clowns just can’t seem to accept that, in dealing with Iran’s nuke program, no deal is better than a bad deal – even if they’ve said so themselves. A bad deal with Iran is a bad deal for the entire Middle East and the world.

Yet Obama is more concerned with partisan politics, telling Senate Democrats they need to stick with him on this terrible deal. His pitch to them is that if the Iran nuclear talks fail, then the GOP wins. How’s that for foreign policy? He’s more concerned about his perceived enemies from the other party than he is about a real enemy that wants to wipe the United States and Israel off the map.