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It is more than a trial balloon. The timing is all important--just before the foreign policy debate tomorrow night. One of Romney's key criticisms of Obama's foreign policy is the way he has handled Iran and the nuclear question. This "trial balloon" was intended to give Obama ammunition that his policies, especially sanctions, were working. It kills the Romney position that Obama has done nothing to stop Iran's nuclear program.

But once this "trial balloon" was launched, the fallout became obvious. Israel is pissed because it wasn't informed. We already have a multilateral approach, P5+1, that is ongoing. Why would the US take such a unilateral approach when we need our allies to enforce sanctions? What concessions would be made to hold such talks?

The result has been that Obama made a big mistake in leaking this information. It is backfiring on him, which is why the WH is issuing a denial that has some caveats trying to get the best of both worlds but the opposite will happen if the subject comes up in the debates. Now Obama must answer whether the story is true and whether he would engage in unilateral talks without involvement of our allies. And what preconditions would he impose and what concessions would he make?

This leak sounds like something a Plouffe or Axelrod would come up with. It is ill-informed and unwise. They see everything thru a domestic political prism and fail to understand the international implications. So, this was not a trial balloon but a big mistake, which they now have to remedy somehow.