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In a week that began with Donald Trump revealing that he had only an hour left to “make a decision” to resume the attack on Iran, the President of the United States has been torn between expressing hope for an end to the war and threatening to escalate the war.
Trump’s mixed messages also resonated with a new rain of talks, and Iran since Thursday says it has received and reviewed Washington’s response to Tehran’s latest proposal for a ceasefire.
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Trump, meanwhile, seems to be showing a third passion: a long, drawn-out debate.
On Thursday, he wrote a New York Post by Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a. pro-Israel think tank which has been supporting military operations against Tehran.
The article, entitled “This is how you can break Tehran three times,” asked the US to “continue the blockade and the series of economic wars”, “to restore the world to America as a dominant force”, “and” to order the US military to create a passage. Hormuz River restoring the freedom to travel on our roads, not Tehran’s”.
The news came after US media reported that Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a phone conversation on Tuesday about the future of the Iran war.
Netanyahu he says he pushed the US to resume strikes, while Trump rejected new strikes in hopes of reaching a deal.
Trump did not confirm the report, but when asked on Wednesday, he said of Netanyahu: “He’s a great guy, he’ll do anything I want.”
What has Trump said this week?
The Trump administration has been sending many and sometimes contradictory messages to Iran, even before the war.
The US and Israel launched the attack on February 28 amid ongoing US-Iran talks on Tehran’s nuclear program. The ceasefire agreement, which began on April 8, came after Trump released some of his bellicose threats of the conflict, saying that “all civilization will die” if an agreement is not reached.
“If you live in Tehran, you don’t know if the president really wants to reach an agreement, because every day, in a few hours, the president changes his position, threatening the Iranian people,” Sina Azodi, an assistant professor of Middle East politics at The George Washington University, told Al Jazeera.
“They can’t decide if the US really wants to do something or if they want war,” he said, adding that Trump’s continued “talks in the air” make it difficult for Tehran to agree to a secret concession.
The unexpected continued this week.
Trump on Sunday threatened that the “clock is ticking” on Iran, the latest example of the US signaling the end of the current military ceasefire, which has been accompanied by a naval blockade that continues against Iranian ports.
But on Monday, Mr Trump said any potential attacks would be “suspended” pending a request from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Trump said “great negotiations” are underway.
The statement came when Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported on Monday that Iran has proposed a 14-point peace plan to end the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that he had “one hour left to make a decision” to resume strikes, but agreed to give Iran a few “days” to return to negotiations.
“Maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday – something – maybe early next week; short term,” he said at the time. “We need to give them more attention. I don’t know yet.”
On Wednesday, Trump continued to show that the US could go either way.
“We are in the final stages of Iran. We will see what happens. Either we have a deal, or we will do some dirty things, but hopefully, this will not happen,” he told reporters.
He added, “If we don’t get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We’re all ready to go.”
Strategic problem?
While Trump supporters will known all of his options are on the table as part of a broader “madman” strategy, some say, reflecting the president’s predicament as he tries to win this war.
Maintaining the status quo – or escalating into new ones – threats continue to damage the US economy, and make them accept Trump’s approach to war.
Meanwhile, the administration knows that any agreement offered by Iran on its nuclear program should be seen as a continuation of former President Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump withdrew in 2018, according to Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.
This comes as Tehran has acquired a “coercive weapon of extraordinary power” in its ability to control the Strait of Hormuz, Rahman wrote post Thursday, to increase their chances of any negotiations.
“Amidst this crisis, a bigger trap is looming,” Rahman wrote, “offering little promise that the use of more force will tip the equation in Trump’s favor.”
On Thursday, the conflict appeared to continue, with Trump promising to seize Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, a prospect that Tehran has repeatedly said is off the table.
He also rejected the prospect that Tehran would bring destruction to the Strait of Hormuz, some of which Iran has previously sought.
