Iran has a deal on the table and a deadline. Donald Trump has the leverage, and he isn’t hiding it.
“It’s a question of when do I want to end it,” the President told reporters Tuesday on the way back from his Texas rallies, ANI reported via The Tribune. “They’ve wanted to make a deal, but they like tapping it along. Maybe they’re waiting for the election or something, but that’s not gonna help them.”
That’s the newest turn since Trump told Tehran on Sunday it was decision time: make a deal, or get finished off.
The offer on the table
Qatari mediators delivered a draft agreement in Tehran on Sunday, Reuters reported, citing an official briefed on the talks, according to Gulf News. The plan lays out a seven-day process in which both sides take confidence-building steps every day. It could start as soon as early next week, with several countries acting as guarantors. Iran is expected to answer by the end of this week.
Asked whether he’d order new strikes after the midterms, Trump kept Tehran guessing. “I can’t tell you that,” he said. “But anything is possible.” He said U.S. strikes had already “decimated” Iran’s military and finances.
At his Lubbock rally, he set the record straight on who started this. “America did not start the war with Iran,” he said. “Iran has been waging this war against America since 1979, killing many of our great people.”
Iran’s squeeze
Tehran is negotiating from a weak hand. A U.S. naval blockade has largely choked off Iranian exports, Reuters reported, according to Fox News. Iran keeps laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and a tanker caught fire after hitting them this week. When Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed U.S. forces had left the strait, U.S. Central Command fired back: “U.S. forces and regional partners control the international waterway — clearly not Iran.”
Tehran’s answer so far has been to complain. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman accused Washington of backing away from a 14-point memorandum negotiated in Islamabad.
The White House says relief at the pump is waiting on the other side of a deal. “Once this conflict comes to an end, gas prices will drop drastically,” spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said.
Democrats have their own plans. Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said Democrats would “in all likelihood” impeach War Secretary Pete Hegseth if they win the House, Fox News reported.
The bottom line
For 47 years, Iran’s mullahs have killed Americans and dared Washington to do something about it. Now they’re the ones under the gun, their oil bottled up, their navy reduced to dropping mines.
Trump isn’t negotiating against himself. He’s made the deal simple: take the Qatari plan and stop stalling, or find out what “anything is possible” means.
Meanwhile, Democrats are talking about impeaching the man running the war. The ayatollahs would love that. American voters shouldn’t.