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Reality Proves Again and Again Trump's Attack on Iran Was Horrible Decision
But the question remains: how do we get out of this mess the US president has created?
Apr 22, 2026
As another week of Trump’s war begins, it becomes ever more clear that all his presumptions about how the war would go have proven wrong. Iran’s economy has bent but not folded despite a blockade of its ports. Its ability to control the Strait of Hormuz hasn’t been eliminated. Iran still has drones and missiles for retaliatory attacks. The regime’s control of the population remains. Gas prices and the cost of oil remain high. The war goes on.
Talking or Fighting?
Trump’s deadline on the cease-fire expires April 22. Will Vice President JD Vance travel to Islamabad for a second round of talks with Iran? The trip was on, then off. If Vance doesn’t go, neither will the Iranian delegation. Trump accuses Iran of violating the cease-fire numerous times. The only certainty is in Trump’s mind: that Iran has “no choice. We’ve taken out their navy, we’ve taken out their air force, we’ve taken out their leaders,” he said on his social media. He just doesn’t get it.
Several developments prior to this hitch in the peace talks point to more confrontation rather than serious negotiations. Last week, Iran again declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to traffic following Trump’s insistence that the US blockade of Iran’s ports will continue until a deal with Iran is completed. Threats to Iran resumed. Pete Hegseth bragged that the US is “reloading with more power than ever before” and is “locked and loaded” for more strikes on “dual-use infrastructure.” Trump repeated his earlier threats to target civilian infrastructure such as power plants should a deal fail to materialize, saying “No more mister Nice Guy.” And in answer to anyone who says such attacks would constitute war crimes, Mike Waltz, the UN ambassador, said it is perfectly legal to attack factories and bridges since they are “comingled” with military uses.
Then on Sunday, the US Navy seized an Iranian-flag cargo ship as it made its way through the Strait of Hormuz. The ship is said to have ignored orders to stop. Iran charged the US with piracy. This comes after Iran attacked two ships in the area. The US Navy has blocked nearly 30 ships from entering or leaving Iran’s ports. In short, the cease-fire, which Iran claims Trump requested, is a mirage. Trump is all about threats: “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” He said he’s prepared to go back to bombing rather than extend the cease-fire.
Detached from Reality
Yet alongside threats are claims that the war is practically over, a deal with Iran all but secured. On Friday, Trump said the Strait of Hormuz was open and that negotiations “SHOULD GO VERY QUICKLY IN THAT MOST OF THE POINTS ARE ALREADY NEGOTIATED.” He told Bloomberg negotiations would be quick because “most of the main points are finalized,” including “unlimited” suspension of Iran’s nuclear program. He also said in that interview: “I’m not going to be rushed into making a bad deal,” Trump said. “We’ve got all the time in the world.” This is crazy talk, detached from reality. He has no idea how big a hole he has dug—and the Iranians are in no rush to help him get out.
Trump refuses to concede that none of the main points in contention have been finalized. Besides the matter of the US blockade and Iran’s closure of the Strait, an enormous additional obstacle is Iran’s enriched uranium. Here we have another false Trump claim, that Iran has agreed to turn over the “nuclear dust” that US air attacks last year created. If true, that would be a major breakthrough, though it doesn’t affect Iran’s ability to enrich uranium in the future. But Iran has denied it made any such deal. More reasonable is an agreement that essentially follows the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, in which Iran agreed to a limit of 300 pounds of uranium enriched to 3.67 percent. But after Trump pulled the plug on that deal in his first term, Iran started producing near weapons-grade material, announcing in 2021 that they had started enriching to 60 percent. Would Trump swallow his ego and reach an agreement that acknowledges Obama’s success?
A Deal with Iran is Possible
Which raises a related question: What would a “reasonable” outcome of this war be? By reasonable I mean an agreement that each side could claim as a victory because it would satisfy at least some of its presumed aims and save it from further inconclusive warfare. Iran might agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and officially acknowledge that it is not subject to closure by any country. In return, the US would end its blockade and recognize the “sovereignty and security” of Iran, thereby making the cease-fire permanent. On the nuclear issue, Iran would pledge never to produce or acquire a nuclear weapon, limit enrichment as noted above, and reopen the country to international inspection of its nuclear facilities. Finally, the US would agree to end sanctions on Iran step-by-step with Iran’s adherence to its pledges.
If an agreement along these lines were to take place, we would be back to the status quo before the US attacks with a few improvements that stabilize US-Iran relations. The nuclear issue would be put to rest for the moment, the Strait would reopen, sanctions on Iran would gradually end, and US forces would leave the Gulf area. All of which would point to one conclusion: that Trump’s war on Iran was needless, a terrible sacrifice of lives and economy.
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'War Could Break Out at Any Time': Trump Extends Ceasefire But Continues Blockade of Iran
One expert stressed that "trust between the sides remains at zero."
Apr 21, 2026
President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon extended a two-week ceasefire for his and Israel's war on Iran, but the US leader also said that a naval blockade of the Mideast nation will continue, and fears of fresh attacks remain high.
Two weeks after threatening to take out the "whole civilization" of Iran just hours before the ceasefire agreement was reached, Trump took to his Truth Social platform again to announce the extension, without a clear timeline.
"Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal," Trump wrote. "I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other."
Trump has imposed the blockade in response to Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that's a key trade route, including for fossil fuels. As part of the blockade, the president said Sunday, US forces seized Touska, a nearly 900-foot Iranian-flagged cargo ship.
Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, concluded Tuesday that Trump's cave "reflects the outcome I have argued is the most likely: No deal, no sanctions relief, no nuclear compromise, no return to war, while Iran continues to control the strait. Not a stable situation, but one in which Trump pockets the central thing he sought—exiting the war—while Iran is bereft of the main thing it was looking for: sanctions lifting."
While a spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that he welcomes Trump's announcement as "an important step toward de-escalation and creating critical space for diplomacy and confidence-building between Iran and the United States," and encouraged all parties "to build on this momentum," comments out of Iran suggested limited progress.
Drop Site News co-founder Jeremy Scahill reported Tuesday that "an Iranian official tells me that, as of this moment, Iran's position remains unchanged: Lifting of the naval blockade is a condition for a second round of talks."
According to Reuters chief national security reporter Phil Stewart, an adviser to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran's Parliament, said that Tuesday's extension means nothing and could even be a ploy to buy time for a surprise strike, plus the US continuing its blockade is the same as bombardment and must be met with military force.
Noting Stewart's reporting on social media, Center for International Policy senior fellow Sina Toossi warned that "after coming under surprise attack twice, some in Tehran are calling for Iran to take initiative and strike first, including at US vessels or tankers ready to exit Hormuz."
Toossi also stressed that "trust between the sides remains at zero and renewed war could break out at any time."
"Let's be real, Pakistan isn't deciding whether the US goes to war with Iran," he added. "They're a conduit, not a driver. More a convenient excuse and diplomatic cover than having any sort of actual influence over Trump on Iran."
Ahead of the extension, Toossi had published an op-ed in The Guardian arguing that "having fought what they see as an existential war with the US and Israel and held their ground, Iranian officials see little reason to rush into major concessions. The priority is not a sweeping deal, but reducing the risk of war while preserving core sources of power, from Hormuz to its nuclear program."
"In the short term, that may simply mean extending the ceasefire rather than reaching a substantive agreement. Beyond that, the likelier outcome is an interim arrangement, or a broad memorandum-of-understanding-style framework that defers key details, rather than a decisive breakthrough," he continued. "In this view, the conflict is not being resolved but managed—and with time, Iran believes its position will strengthen as the global fallout from energy disruption makes renewed escalation a cost no one is willing to bear."
A Tuesday report from the climate advocacy group 350.org estimates that during the first 50 days of the Iran war, consumers and businesses worldwide have paid an additional $158.6-166.9 billion due to soaring fuel costs.
Additionally, thousands of people have been killed in Iran and across the region, and at least tens of thousands of Iranian civilian infrastructure sites have been damaged since the US and Israel first launched attacks in February.
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'Threats of War Crimes Cannot Be Normalized': Trump Ripped for Renewed Iran Genocide Threats
"Trump’s repeated threats to destroy civilian infrastructure are not negotiation, they’re reckless escalations that endanger millions," said one group.
Apr 20, 2026
As Iran reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz amid continued US and Israeli provocations, President Donald Trump renewed threats to destroy Iran and its civilian infrastructure, prompting calls on Monday for the US leader to stop threatening to commit war crimes—and for Americans to not normalize such criminal behavior.
Trump was embarrassed on the world stage after declaring Friday that it was "A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD" because "Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again."
While Iran's government did agree to fully reopen the vital Mideast waterway—through which around 20% of the world's oil is shipped—on Friday, Trump's continued blockade of Iran's ports and rampant Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon led to Tehran shutting down the strait again and accusing the United States of "acts of piracy and maritime theft."
Iranian naval vessels subsequently opened fire on a pair of Indian-flagged ships attempting to travel through the strait Saturday, allegedly after giving at least one of them permission to transit the waterway.
The following day, US forces attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman.
Two weeks after his genocidal threat to wipe out the "whole civilization" of Iran, Trump took to his Truth Social network on Sunday to renew vows to commit war crimes if the Iranian government does not sign a peace deal by Wednesday.
“If they don’t sign the deal, then the whole country is going to get blown up," the president said. “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
Responding to Trump's post, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) said Monday on social media: "Threats of war crimes cannot become normalized. Trump’s repeated threats to destroy civilian infrastructure are not negotiation, they’re reckless escalations that endanger millions."
"The president must abandon this pattern immediately and pursue a serious, lawful, diplomatic strategy grounded in legitimate de-escalation," NIAC added.
Threats to commit war crimes such as blowing up entire countries or destroying civilian infrastructure can, like the acts themselves, be illegal under international law.
"If you follow illegal orders to commit war crimes, you will be prosecuted by a future administration," Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Calif.)—who served in the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps—said in a Sunday message to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Bombing 'every single power plant, and every single bridge' would violate proportionality principle and cause excessive civilian harm, which is a war crime."
However, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz on Sunday defended Trump's statements, citing American actions in World War II—which included waging the world's only nuclear war and carpet-bombing of German and Japanese cities that killed more people than the atomic bombs—to justify the president's threats.
Waltz also claimed that "the Iranian regime... and its terrorist proxies have a long history of actually deliberately hiding military infrastructure in hospitals, schools, neighborhoods, and other civilian assets," comments that came as Israeli forces continued their attacks on all of those civilian structures and more in Gaza and Lebanon. Iranians are also reeling from US and Israeli attacks, many of them on civilian infrastructure, that officials in Tehran and human rights groups say have killed as many as 1,700 noncombatantas, including hundreds of women and children.
Trump's continued blockade and renewed threats come as Pakistan on Monday pushed for a resumption of peace talks, with Pakistani officials saying Iran has signaled its willingness to send a delegation to Islamabad for negotiations. If Tehran agrees to new talks, Vice President JD Vance is expected to lead a US delegation to Pakistan whose members would likely include Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Iranian officials have slammed the unreliability of the Trump administration—which has twice waged war on Iran right when deals were in sight, according to international mediators.
“Iranians do not submit to force,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday.
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