New Delhi:
Donald Trump served up another Truth Social post this week.
This time it was a ‘Men In Black’-meets-‘Rambo’ AI-edited image featuring himself in the starring role – a black-suited president with shades and an assault rifle in his hands, staring down the viewer with a smirk as explosions dot a generic mountainous desert terrain behind him.
“Iran can’t get their act together,” the caption declared, “They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon! NO MORE MR NICE GUY!”
By Trump’s standards the threat is mild.
It certainly isn’t in the ballpark of labelling the Iranians “crazy ba****ds” or threatening to “wipe out” a 7,000-year civilisation, or even demanding Tehran “open the fu**ing strait”.
But what it emphasises is growing frustration over lack of progress in peace talks.
Trump appears stymied by Tehran’s firm refusal to scrap its nuclear programme – which it says is for civil use but Washington claims is for bombs – and give up its uranium stockpile.
In early April the Iranian administration rejected just such an “unrealistic” proposal and said it refused to enter talks under the shadow of “illegal sanctions, military threats, or coercion”. An angry Trump responded: “Normal people would make a deal. Smart people would make a deal… If they were smart, they would make a deal.”
Donald Trump faces the 60-day War Powers Act deadline. Photo: Reuters
Iran’s counter proposal pushed talks on this topic to a later, undefined date and also made it contingent on a permanent end to the fighting and the US dismantling its Hormuz blockade.
That the US is still “considering” it is likely a sign Trump – who seems more and more boxed in by the law, pressure from voters (and allies), and the reality of a rapidly-depleting missile arsenal – is trying to work out how to recast Iran’s offer as a ‘win’ for him and his MAGA agenda.
For Washington, curbs on Tehran’s nuclear programme are a red line in talks, but there is now mounting pressure on that line as Trump runs up against a deadline that could force his hand.
NDTV Explains | 3 Scenarios, 2 Deadlines, 1 Iran War: Trump Faces Point Of No Return
There is a 60-day legal timer on the war and it ends no later than May 1.
NDTV Explains | The 60-Day Clock That May Stop Trump’s Iran War. Can He Ignore It?
After that, Trump either has to make a deal, any deal, with Iran to end what will be an illegal war, push for a Congressional blank cheque, or re-dress a forced pullback of troops as a win.
