Democrats Cautioned Against Baiting Trump Back Into War With Iran With Criticism of Ceasefire Terms

With a potential US nuclear attack against Iran's 93 million people averted by the ceasefire deal that was reached Tuesday evening, anti-war advocates including the only Iranian American member of Congress urged the Democratic Party to focus first and foremost on the fact that through diplomacy, President Donald Trump had been led away from the brink of disaster—instead of using the high-stakes moment to to score political points.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) cautioned against members of either political party joking that Trump had "chickened out" after threatening the "whole civilization" of Iran on Tuesday, hours before the deadline he had set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which it effectively closed in retaliation for the unprovoked US-Israeli invasion of the country at the end of February.

Taking aim at the use of the acronym "TACO"—for "Trump Always Chickens Out," coined by a Financial Times columnist last year—Ansari issued a reminder that "the president was threatening genocide against 90 million Iranians."

"I’m grateful there’s a ceasefire and scores of innocent people didn’t die tonight," said Ansari.

Branko Marchetich of Jacobin called on Democratic leaders to take "their cues" from Ansari, adding, "There is nothing shameful about de-escalation and peace."

The congresswoman spoke out as Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), whose name has been floated as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, expressed outrage at the 10-point plan the US, Israel, and Iran agreed upon as a starting point for negotiations over the next two weeks as Trump backed off his threat to annihilate Iran.

Al Jazeera's James Bays reported that the 10-point plan allows limited daily passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz for the next two weeks "in coordination with the Iranian armed forces; cancellation of sanctions against Iran; the US and Israel's acceptance of Iran's nuclear enrichment program; and full compensation for damages suffered by Iran during the war, to be secured through payments to Iran by ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Murphy called the deal's inclusion of Iranian control of the strait "cataclysmic" and "extraordinary," while author and attorney Chase Madar argued the outcome is "considerably less awful than what Trump was promising to do on Easter," when he pledged to attack civilian infrastructure across Iran.

"Let's hope Democrats don't bait Trump back into this war," said Ryan Grim of Drop Site News.

On social media and in a CNN interview, Murphy also railed against reports that the deal allows Iran to "keep their missiles," which the Trump administration had been intent on destroying—although the country was permitted to have ballistic missiles under the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump exited during his first term.

"Anyone who thinks Iran's having conventional ballistic missiles isn't acceptable—and this tweet suggests that's Murphy's position—shouldn't be president," said Robert Wright of NonZero Newsletter. "Murphy is shamelessly playing politics at a delicate moment in world history."

The senator rejected criticism from those who said he was being insufficiently laudatory of the ceasefire, arguing that being "glad if this ceasefire holds" is "not inconsistent with pointing out that we are worse off now than before the war started."

Iran's control of the strait is expected to result in higher global oil and gas prices and inflation; since it closed the key waterway over a month ago, US gas prices have risen above $4 per gallon.

On Wednesday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined Murphy in denouncing the deal that allows Iran to retain missiles and continue enriching uranium.

"Leading Senate foreign policy Dem attacks Trump for not achieving his goals... in his criminal war of aggression against Iran," said Erik Sperling of Just Foreign Policy. "The only acceptable goal is immediately ending the illegal war, Senator!"

Sperling noted that prior to the ceasefire deal, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had spoken with clarity on CNN about the need for Democratic lawmakers to refrain from "play[ing] politics" as the Trump administration engages in brinkmanship with Iran while continuing negotiations.

"There's too much at stake," said Khanna. "I'm going to say, 'Thank you, finally, diplomacy prevailed.'"