The Washington Post wrote in an analysis that Donald Trump’s constant oscillation between military threats and negotiations has neither forced Iran to retreat from its positions nor created a path toward ending the war.
The U.S. war with Iran has continued for more than five months. According to the Washington Post, one of the main factors behind the stalemate is Trump’s contradictory approach. The U.S. president has repeatedly shifted between conciliation and confrontation, threatening military action while also proposing negotiations.
The newspaper writes that Trump has threatened devastating attacks at least seven times since the beginning of the war, but has subsequently returned to the negotiating table each time. In the latest instance, on August 1, he spoke of Washington’s readiness to launch an attack of unprecedented force, while simultaneously saying that he would halt the attack because an agreement was reportedly within reach.
According to the author, this contradictory behavior has caused Iran to stop taking Trump’s threats seriously. The analysis points to Trump’s July 22 threat to target a bridge or power plant for every ship attacked by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, noting that despite attacks on at least three ships following that threat, the United States did not carry out the military response it had promised.
At the same time, Tehran does not trust Trump to reach an agreement either, because the U.S. president has repeatedly changed his position after coming close to a deal. The Washington Post argues that this behavior has weakened both the deterrent power of Trump’s threats and the prospects for successful negotiations.
The analysis also notes that the continuation of the war is imposing heavy costs on the United States. Trump is facing limited domestic support for the war, while the United States has so far lost 18 military personnel, and the Pentagon is also facing severe shortages of the missiles needed to continue the war with Iran.
According to a CNN poll, only 28 percent of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the war with Iran. This could create additional political pressure on the administration ahead of the midterm elections.
The Washington Post ultimately emphasizes that Trump must choose between two paths—negotiation or confrontation—and consistently pursue the path he chooses. According to the newspaper, continuing the current policy of moving back and forth between war and peace, and between threats and negotiations, is the one approach whose failure can already be considered guaranteed. The result could be the transformation of the war with Iran into an “endless war.”
