Late Monday night, Donald Trump was livid, and he had every right to be.
Trump had just announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran when reports surfaced that yet another bombing mission had been conducted.
Trump immediately got on the phone to reel in Israel and demand that both countries respect the ceasefire deal they had agreed upon.
Right around dinner time on the East Coast on Monday, Trump touted a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran.
Trump laid out the parameters, posting, “CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED.”
He further stated that both countries had operations underway, but once those operations were completed, the ceasefire would take effect.
This was huge news, but it was very short-lived.
Within minutes of Trump making that post, Iranian leadership came out to say that no such deal had been presented to Iran, and it had not agreed to any ceasefire.
CNN filed the initial report, stating, “Iran has not received any ceasefire proposal and sees no reason for one, a senior Iranian official told CNN. The official said Iran would continue to fight until it achieves lasting peace and that it would view remarks from Israel and the US as ‘a deception’ intended to justify attacks on Iran’s interests.”
The official added, “At this very moment, the enemy is committing aggression against Iran, and Iran is on the verge of intensifying its retaliatory strikes, with no ear to listen to the lies of its enemies.”
My feeling on this is that Trump should have called upon Israel and Iran to break the news to avoid this exact scenario. A friend of mine suggested Iran was trying to save face, and I agree, at least to an extent, as I am sure Trump’s premature announcement got under someone’s skin, and they decided to try to embarrass him.
In addition to the Iranian denial, both countries appeared to have broken the deal, with Israel unloading another massive payload on Iran in response to the claim that Iran had broken the ceasefire agreement. An Israeli official claimed, "Unfortunately, the Iranians have decided to continue to fire toward Israel. Two missiles were fired toward Israel, and we believe they are trying to fire more in the next couple of hours."
This was like two petulant children in a schoolyard fight, only this fight had global ramifications. Trump immediately stepped in, calling out both sides for having violated the agreement he claimed to have in place. Trump explained, "I'm not happy with Israel. You know, when I say, okay, now you have 12 hours, you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran either, but I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning.”
He continued, "We basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*** they're doing. I’m gonna see if I can stop it.”
Both sides have since taken a breath, or at least that is the way it sounded, and the ceasefire does seem to be in place. With Iran, that could fall apart in a second, so we will have to continue to monitor the situation. This is a huge moment for Trump, and one that could save the GOP in the midterm elections if it holds, especially since Democrats are talking about impeaching him over the strike and defending a terrorist nation.