New Delhi, June 9 -- Since US declared ceasefire with Iran on 7 April, US President Donald Trump has stated, posted, and broadcast at least 37 separate times that a peace and nuclear agreement with Tehran was close, agreed in principle, or just days away from being signed. Not one of those predictions has come true.

The tally stretches back to 23 March, less than a month into the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran that began on 28 February, and runs through statements made as recently as this past weekend and into Monday, when Trump told a tele-rally for Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina that "total victory" was a fortnight away. Analysts watching the conflict say the gap between the president's declarations and events on t...