Iran is now giving them 60 days to take significant strides or face a potentially severe new crisis in the Middle East

By taking a couple of small, carefully-calibrated steps towards the exit from the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran has given Europe and China a two-month ultimatum to stand up to the US on the world stage, or risk a slide towards a new Middle East conflict.

The erosion of that multilateral agreement and the return to military posturing in the Persian Gulf, has been driven by a small number of radical players in the Trump administration, the Israeli government, and the Saudi and Emirati monarchies. In the US and Israel, this has happened in the face of resistance from the defence establishment.