It was presumed Joe Biden would quickly restore the Iran nuclear deal, both a major campaign promise and a critical part of Barack Obama’s presidential legacy, upon taking office. Instead, a year and a half into his presidency, not only is the deal still to be renegotiated — it’s not clear it will be restored at all.

Meanwhile, Biden appears to be deepening US ties with Saudi Arabia and other regional adversaries of Iran as regional hostilities intensify. Jacobin’s Branko Marcetic spoke with Dr Trita Parsi, cofounder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, about what went so wrong, why, and how things could have been different.