Donald Trump offered on Monday his most pessimistic message regarding the truce with Iran since it came into effect on April 7. In a statement from the Oval Office of the White House, he said the ceasefire is “incredibly fragile” and is “in palliative care,” after he rejected Tehran’s latest counteroffer on Sunday, which he called “unacceptable.” This morning he gave few details about that document, beyond a series of adjectives that do not inspire optimism either: “stupid,” “trash,” and “dishonest.”
The president said he was going to meet this afternoon with a “large group” of generals to discuss the next steps in this war, which has already lasted two and a half months. In the past week, the two countries have exchanged attacks around the Strait of Hormuz, which remains blocked by both sides, and Washington even bombed Iranian territory, in a clear violation of the truce.
Donald Trump, President of the U.S.
“I have a great plan, the best plan ever made: Iran cannot have the nuclear weapon”
Trump, who has refused to set a deadline for his war – initially he said it would last “four to five weeks” and recently referred to it as a “trip” – said he is seeking a “total victory.” This must go beyond the military level, in which he claims to have already won decisively because, according to him, the entire Iranian fleet is “sunk.” But on the diplomatic level, he has not yet achieved any fruitful rapprochement with Tehran.
The definitive victory, which Trump has insisted on, will only be achieved if Tehran agrees to dismantle its nuclear program and hands over its enriched uranium, he said, although at the same time he said this was “destroyed” in the summer bombings last year. It is the goal he has emphasized most in recent weeks, having set aside others he mentioned since the conflict began, such as regime change or the elimination of Iran’s allied militias in the region.
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“In war you have to change, you have to be flexible, you have many plans, but on different days you have to apply different plans,” he added, justifying his changes in strategy regarding Iran, whom he has gone from threatening genocide to declaring a truce, to threatening again with its total destruction.
“I have a great plan, the best plan ever made,” the president said, always hyperbolic. “The plan is that they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he emphasized, framing as a plan what is actually a goal. “And that was not said in their letter,” he said, referring to the Iranian counteroffer.
After defending his own changes in strategy, he blamed the Iranians for the failure of diplomacy. “Look, I have had to negotiate with them four or five times and they always change their minds. Their leaders are very dishonest people,” he insisted.
He then said that, in the initial bombings, he killed the “front line” of leadership, the lunatics, and their successors have been “more reasonable” and “moderate.” But even so, despite the threats from his army, he still has not achieved an agreement for Tehran to give up its nuclear program, a program that, according to Tehran, is intended solely for civilian purposes.
