As we go to press, there is no deal between Iran and the West over the former's nuclear capabilities.

This is being portrayed as a near-disaster that threatens regional and even global stability. The opposite is the reality. The rush towards an accommodation with Iran - towards any accommodation, it seems - has been pushed by President Obama in a frighteningly misguided attempt to leave a "legacy". And there would indeed be a legacy - one that saw Iran freed from the impact of sanctions with a newly refreshed nuclear programme sanctified by the West. To describe such an outcome as the most bizarre Western own-goal in recent years would be a major understatement. It must earnestly be hoped that the current talks have indeed broken down. But that is unlikely to be the end of the matter.

The Western negotiators have been willing to let Iran set the tempo and content of negotiations, so there will doubtless be more. President Obama will be gone in January 2017. The best hope is that we manage to last until then with no deal, and that a US President who has a firm hold on reality takes office.