Iran Won’t Just End Its ‘Malign Activity’ The United States should limit the nuclear deal to Iran’s nuclear program, rather than contort the agreement into a catchall for all the things it dislikes about Iran. The self-help business offers a litany of so-called “rules” of negotiation, numbering anywhere from three to fifteen. Slight deviations aside, a common, albeit obvious, theme among these lists is understanding the other party. Harvard Business Review first advises to do “the background homework… understand[ing] the interests and positions of the other side…” Wharton-bred thinkers agree; so does LinkedIn. On one of the most troublesome international negotiations, U.S. officials are consistently failing to do their homework. The United States is stubbornly clinging to terms to which the other party, Iran, will never agree.