FRIDAY THE 13TH – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  It's Friday the 13th, so Iran must be back at the negotiating table.

And yes, there is the Iranian delegation appearing in Turkey for a new round of international negotiations on Iran's nuclear program that will begin tomorrow.  At least they're scheduled.

The Iranians are today speaking in mildly conciliatory terms, saying they come in peace, want an agreement, and believe in mutual respect.  That and a token gets me on public transport. 

I'm worried about these talks, worried that President Obama, eager for an agreement to wave, umbrella in hand, before the American people, may agree to too much.  Already, in my view, he has blundered badly.  Yesterday he said that if the talks fail he's prepared for...more sanctions on Iran.  Nothing like hitting them with a sack of marshmallows.

Obama should have said nothing, leaving the way open for the Iranians to contemplate the possibility of a Western military strike against them.  They are not afraid of sanctions.  But Iranian leaders may be afraid of getting killed themselves.  It's very easy for them to send young boys out to commit suicide...as long as they don't have to go along on the trip.

Already we're seeing the outlines of an Obama Iran strategy in the months leading up to the election.  Who's preventing a peaceful settlement of the Iran problem?  The terminally obnoxious Fareed Zakaria, one of CNN's deep-thinking intellectuals, and an informal adviser to President Obama, puts it this way:

The administration has handled its allies, Russia, China, the United Nations and even Tehran with skill. To succeed, however, it has to tackle its most formidable foe, with whom it has not had much negotiating success: Republicans.

Yup.  The real enemy isn't Iran, run by a bunch of Holocaust-denying modern fascists, who murder their own people in the street.  The real enemy is Mitt Romney.

Mr. Zakaria will be the commencement speaker at Harvard next month.  Surprised?

April 13, 2012