Trump Awkwardly Explains His Latest Iran Bait and Switch
President Donald Trump has awkwardly explained the latest backflip in his ongoing war days after threatening Iran with the “biggest” strikes since World War II.
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Trump, 80, announced the strikes on Friday after being blindsided by a “surprise attack” from Iran being during a temporary pause to his war.
“We will be hitting them very hard,” Trump said on Friday during a televised cabinet meeting at Camp David. “And you know at some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”
By Saturday evening, however, he was calling off scheduled attacks on Iran, now the eighth time he has halted planned strikes during his five-month conflict, according to the Associated Press.
On Sunday, Trump then attempted to explain the reason behind his latest backtrack to journalists on Air Force One while en route to Washington, D.C.
Claiming that “we were all set to go,” Trump said he was “asked” to call off the attacks by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and “specifically” by Iran.
“It would have been a massive attack,” Trump said, “But when the allies ask to call it off, you got to sort of say, well, let’s see.”
Trump flagged an imminent “deal on Hormuz and… I call it the denuclearization of Iran.” Restricted access to the Strait of Hormuz has impacted oil prices, a critical election issue for the president.
Trump said negotiations with Iran will begin on Monday afternoon, but referenced the conflicting messages between himself and Iran over a deal.
“We’ll see if it’s true,” Trump added. “I’d love to do that. Save a lot of lives. Save a lot of unnecessary power to be honest with you.”
On Sunday, Iran said it was nearing a deal with Oman over a new route through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow international waterway that flows between them in the Persian Gulf, according to the Washington Post.
For months, efforts to quell the war have failed, and Trump has repeatedly claimed a deal is in sight.
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Among the back and forth, the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 7, which Trump announced two hours prior to a deadline to make a deal ahead of planned strikes on bridges and power plants, warning “a whole civilization will die.”
Trump posted on Truth Social on June 11 that America would attack Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” to take “total control” of their gas and oil infrastructures. A few hours later, he announced on his social media platform the strikes were off after successful negotiations.
A memorandum of agreement was signed by the U.S. and Iran on June 17; however, the 60-day ceasefire ended after Iran attacked a Cyprus-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz last month, prompting retaliatory strikes by the U.S.
On Sunday, Trump spent the first three minutes of his gaggle with the press trying to explain his abrupt change in military tactics, returning to the topic again towards the end of his eight minutes of answering questions.
He used the same language about the size of the strikes repeatedly, saying the U.S. is “ready to go anytime we want,” and claimed Iran “obviously…don’t want to be attacked and they knew they knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming.”
“Would I rather make a deal?,” Trump asked rhetorically. “I’m not looking to kill people, because people die. A lot of people die and we don’t want that.”
Trump also added cryptically, “Now there’s a group of people that would like me to just do it, and there’s another group of people that does not want me to do it,” but did not clarify who he was referring to.
The president then claimed his planned strike on Iran would have been “disastrous” for them. “And they didn’t want us to do it,” he said. “And frankly Saudi Arabia didn’t want it either. They thought that a deal is imminent.”
Eighteen U.S. service members have died since the war began, though the Trump administration has sought to revise those numbers.
The president was also coy when asked if Saturday’s attack was going to hit energy targets in Iran, stating, “I don’t want to say that… I can’t say that.”
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The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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