Fox News’ Jesse Watters scrambled to try to spin Donald Trump’s embarrassing U-turn on the Iran war as a positive thing live on air.
Watters told viewers Tuesday that the 79-year-old president had paused plans for the U.S. to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz just one day after Trump’s so-called “Project Freedom” was launched.
“We suspect the president is letting the Iranians save face,” Watters suggested.
“The enemy, just yesterday, said they controlled the strait. That was obviously a lie, and watching the Americans escort ship after ship out of the Gulf, and them not being able to do anything about it, was going to be humiliating.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social that his plan for the U.S. military to shepherd commercial vessels through the narrow shipping route would be “paused for a short period” while negotiations to end the war continue.
Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz—through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply normally passes—has put a chokehold on Trump’s efforts to end the deeply unpopular Middle East conflict.
Trump shelved the plan after being warned by U.S. officials that it risked escalating the war at a time when an already shaky ceasefire is in place, Bloomberg reported.
The president, however, claimed he paused the operation because “Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement” with Iran, without offering any details.
The Trump administration has frequently suggested that the conflict, which began on Feb. 28, will end any day now.
After reading Trump’s Truth Social post on air, Watters bent over backwards to frame the retreat as a cunning move.
“Not only were they going to lose whatever military prestige they had left in the region, their negotiators weren’t going to be able to fight for their position after they lost their last bargaining chip,” Watters said.
“The commander in chief must believe that the Iranians are serious about surrendering if he’s going to pause Project Freedom for the sake of a deal. Because you could also continue Project Freedom during the negotiations.
“The president must know what he’s doing, and we’re about to find out how insane in the brain the regime really is,” Watters added. “The choice is theirs.”
