US Politics Live – Latest Updates
As the narrative of the ongoing conflict in Iran is shaped directly through social media, former President Donald Trump emerges as a prominent, yet unreliable, narrator of the events.
Since the onset of the war, Trump has repeatedly issued threats of severe consequences if Tehran does not engage in negotiations and sign a peace agreement, which he claimed was imminent weeks ago. He has also frequently asserted that an Iran deal is "close"—a claim made at least 38 times according to one analysis—yet no agreement has materialized.
Despite the US having declared "complete victory" in the conflict, and Trump criticizing journalists who question the intervention's prudence, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to over 20% of global oil traffic, indicating ongoing tensions.
Nevertheless, Trump continues to maintain a contradictory stance: proclaiming Iran defeated while simultaneously blaming the country's obstinacy for the failure to finalize a peace deal and end the conflict.
"The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!!" he wrote in a message on Monday. "They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!"
This statement followed the downing of a US Apache helicopter by an Iranian drone, despite assertions from both Trump and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth that Iran "[doesn’t] have anti-aircraft, they don’t have radar." This evidence suggests otherwise, as Iran’s missile and drone attacks have persisted against US allies in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.
In retaliation for the helicopter incident, US forces reportedly struck over 20 sites in Iran, including radar and anti-aircraft installations, according to US officials.
On Wednesday, in the Oval Office, Trump warned of a strong US response but also indicated that a deal was near. He stated,
"We’re gonna hit ’em again hard today … and we’ll see what happens with a deal. We’re really close to a deal but they keep on tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers."
The oscillation between announcements of imminent agreements and threats that "a whole civilization will die tonight" has kept Trump at the center of media attention. However, these contradictory declarations have increasingly undermined trust in his statements, even on critical matters involving war.
Other international leaders appear to be exploiting the credibility gap within the US administration. Trump mentioned plans to advise Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against retaliating against Iran this week. Yet, when Israel conducted strikes on Iran, Trump claimed in a BBC interview that the "missiles had already gone." He later denied that Netanyahu had defied him, asserting,
"When I tell Netanyahu to do something, he does it."
Similarly, Trump has repeatedly threatened airstrikes targeting Iran’s civilian and energy infrastructure—a campaign many international observers have labeled as potentially constituting war crimes—but has often reverted to diplomacy or issued ultimatums with short deadlines that are soon disregarded.
As negotiations stall or tensions escalate following incidents such as Monday’s downing of the US helicopter, a recurring cycle of threat, detente, and deadlock persists.
Fox News reported on Wednesday that Trump was once again "inching" toward radical strikes on Iran, which could severely damage Iran’s economy and both military and civilian sectors, without necessarily reopening the Strait of Hormuz or compelling the Iranian government to seek peace.
The US finds itself unable to convert its military superiority into political compliance, with little progress evident in negotiations beyond the president’s volatile posts on Truth Social.
Rhetorically, Iran has signaled no intention of total surrender. The country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated,
"Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the US opted to test our determination. Our powerful armed forces will leave no attack or threat unanswered. Leave our region if you want to be safe."
