So, you agree that the months of "negotiations" have been a kabuki dance?

No. I think Trump genuinely wants the Iranians to give him what he wants - a deal better than the JCPOA. I think he lacks the awareness to realize that he's not going to get what he wants. I think he keeps floundering around in the negotiations because of that. And also because he keeps trying to pull various levers (Another bombing! The Blockade! More threats! Send a few escorts!) thinking that they'll change the various dynamics, not realizing that they won't. So you get a prolonged negotiation that he thinks and intends will result in a satisfactory deal, and it just keeps failing.

Or, the plan is to wait until global crude reserves run dry, and watch the price of gas escalate, until the Proles are willing to support a ground invasion, to get cheaper gas.

Again, I see absolutely no reason at all that Trump would ever want that to happen. It doesn't benefit him. All of the things that are happening as a result of continued conflict with Iran are making things worse for him personally, not better. It's screwing up the deals he wants to cut with other Gulf States, it's hurting him politically and making it harder for him to get his grifts in the U.S. through (the ballroom! the lawfare fund!), and it's hurting his ego.

The plan was to get a super-quick win at low cost like he thinks he got in Venezuela. He gets to be the guy who "solved" Iran, by being brave and strong enough to do what all those milquetoast dumb p*ssy Presidents failed to do. Don't take "no" for an answer and don't cut a deal - just go in with the military and "tune them up," and they'll fall in line once they realize we're so much stronger than them. That didn't happen, so he's floundering - he has no plan for this scenario.

That's why it's not kabuki theater. This wasn't planned, and he's not doing it intentionally. He wants a win and can't get one. He doesn't have to admit a loss until the war is over. So he's keeping things unresolved and keeps negotiations going.