Trump Administration Blocks Iran’s Top Diplomat From Addressing the U.N. Security Council

foreignpolicy ^ | 1/6/2020 | By Colum Lynch, Robbie Gramer

[piasa]

I don’t think the Iranians knew for a while what became of their General, if he was abducted, if he fled the country, or what he might have taken with him. Either that or they sent him to defect and carry misinformation. Either way the analysts would take a long hard look at the defector’s gift and would have spent a lot of time interrogating the defector.

I think Bolton’s leaving a few months after the defection was a feint to give the Iranians enough rope to hang themselves. They would certainly have seen his leaving as a sign of softening, a sign Trump was a paper tiger. And believing this, they may have assumed the US got nothing of great value and continued with plans they should have considered compromised.