President Trump’s own advisers have admitted they don’t actually know what he intends to do next in the Iran war.
Close aides admit they can’t tell if Trump, 79, wants out, wants escalation, or is simply making it up on the fly, according to Axios.
One senior adviser told the outlet, “Nobody knows in the end what he’s really thinking,” while others insisted the confusion itself is the point.
One unnamed official went so far as to claim it’s all part of a brilliant ploy, telling Axios: “This isn’t 3D chess — it’s 12-dimensional. He contradicts himself regularly, so nobody knows what he’s thinking. It’s on purpose.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, 70, also cast the haze as a strategy, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that unpredictability is key to winning.
That would be easier to sell if the public line had not been confused for days. On March 26, Reuters reported that Trump paused attacks on Iran’s energy plants for 10 days and said talks were going “very well,” even as he warned Tehran that the U.S. could become its “worst nightmare.”
By Wednesday, Axios reported that Trump was discussing an exit and talking about declaring victory within “two-three weeks” while additional U.S. forces were still being assembled in the region.
The Daily Beast has been documenting the same flip-flopping for weeks. After a classified March 2 briefing on Capitol Hill, Sen. Ruben Gallego said there was no plan to get out and no clear concept of victory. Earlier on Wednesday, the Beast also reported CNN host Jake Tapper’s on-air rundown of the contradictions.
Trump has repeatedly extended deadlines for his ultimatums to Iran, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described one set of objectives even as other officials talk about entirely different ones, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz and retrieving nuclear material.
As of Wednesday, Trump has said the U.S. could be “finished” in Iran within “two or three weeks,” and he is due to address the nation on Wednesday evening, with the picture still muddy.
The lack of clarity comes as the war keeps spreading, with the Associated Press reporting attacks on Kuwait International Airport and on an oil tanker off Qatar’s coast.
Trump has signaled he may leave without a formal deal once he thinks Tehran’s military and nuclear capabilities have been badly degraded.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has also added to the confusion. She said Monday that talks were continuing and that what was being discussed publicly was “much different” from what officials were being told privately.
White House Spokesman Kush Desai told the Daily Beast that Trump has “always been clear about short-term disruptions” as a result of his Iran incursions, and that the administration “has had a plan in place to mitigate these disruptions.” He did not say specify what they are.
