Donald “Whiplash” Trump Tacos Again

I need a personal injury attorney. I’m going to sue Donald Trump for whiplash. At 9 am in the morning, Donald Trump doubled-down on his threat the previous night to, “Bomb the shit out of Iran,” by vowing to launch a new round of bigger, harder attacks on Iran. Then, at 1:33 pm, he slammed on the brakes, which launched my head forward against my keyboard, and announced there would be no violence because a deal is at hand. Ouch!! My aching neck. This marks the 39th time in the last three months that Trump has announced the pending success of negotiations with Iran only to result in another failed promise..

Let’s compare and contrast what Trump claimed and what Iran actually said.

The day began with Trump posting on Truth Social that the U.S. would be hitting Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” threatening to seize Iran’s oil infrastructure including Kharg Island.

Five hours later, he performed another verbal backflip worthy of an Olympic gold medal for gymnastics. Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that the U.S. and Iran had essentially reached a settlement:

We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran. And we’re going to be subject to finalization of documents we should get done over the next few days and probably have a signing, maybe in Europe.

He then posted on Truth Social:

Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening.

He added that the naval blockade would “remain in full force and effect until this Transaction is finalized — Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly.”

Trump also claimed the Strait of Hormuz will “officially open” the moment a deal is signed, and affirmed that the U.S. will lift its naval blockade as “part of the deal.” He indicated he would not personally attend the signing but that Vice President JD Vance and other officials would go.

Tehran wasted no time raining on Trump’s framing of the negotiations… Iran denied any movement toward a longer-term agreement. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said reports of a finalized agreement with the United States are “speculation” and stressed that “nothing has been finalized,” adding that Iran “has not yet reached a final conclusion regarding an agreement.“

He added that much of the draft text had already been completed but that “the Americans kept changing their positions,” while emphasizing that Iran “does not compromise on what it has defined as its red lines.” There are five red lines: remove sanctions, unfreeze frozen assets, lift the blockade, recognize Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz and end Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. Iran is not going to budge on these.

Iran’s position has been consistent since the start of the war on 28 February: contesting Trump’s characterization of the state of talks even as both sides continue indirect communications through intermediaries like Pakistan. As recently as a week earlier, Iranian state-affiliated media had reported that Iranian negotiators would stop exchanging messages with the US and move to fully close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for ceasefire violations, conditioning any dialogue on Israel fully withdrawing from occupied areas in Lebanon and halting all attacks in Lebanon and Gaza.

Baghaei confirmed that Qatar and Pakistan remain active mediators, while warning that US actions are affecting the diplomatic process, stating that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz has become “more insecure” due to Washington’s actions.

One sign of hope as Thursday ended and Friday morning in Iran began… there were no more US strikes on targets in the Strait of Hormuz. Let’s see if that lasts another day. Donald Trump has the power to end the violence by cutting off all support to Israel and demanding it leave Lebanon. If the Israelis stop the bombing and killing I think it is highly likely that Hezbollah will embrace the ceasefire.

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Another busy podcast day. Colonel Wilkerson and I spent an hour with Danny Haiphong:

I had a delightful conversation with the smart and savvy Kim Iverson:

Ok. I faked a neck brace with Garland but he laughed:

Nima contacted me early — before Trump did his switcheroo — and we ended up talking about peace prospects rather than missile strikes:

I realize that Mario is not a fan favorite among some, but I really like the kid. He works hard and runs a great interview, and he laughs at my jokes in the midst of dark topics:

The thing I most cherish about the internet is making new friends. Like Mario, I count Sulaiman as a new, dear friend:

I forgot to post my chat with Stas. We discussed the oddities around the Apache crash: