New ‘treaty of Versailles’ forgets history at its peril

With no great sense of history, and still less shame, Donald Trump signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran in the grand setting of the Palace of Versailles, flanked by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Emmanuel Macron, president of the French Republic.

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With no great sense of history, and still less shame, Donald Trump signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran in the grand setting of the Palace of Versailles, flanked by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Emmanuel Macron, president of the French Republic.

It was a historic, if odd, moment. There was no representative from the Islamic Republic to join the US president in the brief ceremony, and the "treaty" had already been agreed by the vicepresident, JD Vance, and signed off by both sides "digitally", with Israel glaringly excluded.

Earlier, Mr Trump had joked that he wasn't even sure if such a flimsy, low-level diplomatic instrument warranted his formal signature, and that Mr Vance could take the blame if things went wrong. Like so many of the president's wisecracks, this carried a hint of menace - a subtle reference to Mr Vance's chances of succeeding Mr Trump in 2028.

In the event, Mr Trump couldn't resist the call of destiny, and put Sharpie to paper. No doubt he will claim this as the ninth or 10th war he has ended, leaving the question of who started it to the "fake news" people to point out. No matter. Operation Epic Fury has ended up an epic defeat.

However, for all the MoU's many flaws and tragic ironies, the immediate feeling must be one of relief. The war is over. That is reason enough for celebration. Even if the MoU is no better than the Iran nuclear deal that Barack Obama negotiated in 2015, or the Omani-brokered settlement reached in February this year, Iran's renunciation of nuclear weapons is a precious achievement - the tragedy being that this war was not necessary to accomplish it.