Earlier today, we did a post on neocons inciting war with Iran that featured quotes from Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, formerly a branch of the Israel lobby group AIPAC. Well Clawson had better put a sock in it, and quick, because now he’s given away the neocons’ game plan. From Laura Rozen’s piece on the negotiations:

Patrick Clawson, deputy director of research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in an interview with Yahoo News Tuesday… said he didn’t think prospects for a deal look promising.

“I think it’s heading towards confrontation,” Clawson said. “The whole point from the beginning is if we put pressure on the regime, the Iranians will crack at some point.”

So far, at least, there’s little sign the strategy is yielding the desired result. The Iranians to date have responded to the prospect of the tightened financial sanctions on the country’s oil sector with an announcement of the launching of operations at the fortified, underground Fordo nuclear enrichment facility–together with sporadic threats to close the Strait of Hormuz. So why isn’t that a sign that the U.S. strategy is failing?

“It’s a lot better to have a fight” that Iran provokes, Clawson replied, before adding: “Better to enter World War II after Pearl Harbor, and World War I after the sinking of the Lusitania.”