A GOP senator has admitted that Iran is playing “rope-a-dope” with Donald Trump and simply running out the clock until the president gets pushed out of office.
The astonishing insult, calling Trump a “dope” was even made on Fox News.
As negotiations over Trump’s Iran peace framework drag on, Sen. Tim Sheehy acknowledged on Monday that Tehran is doing exactly what many of Trump’s critics—and some of his allies—fear: buying time.
“What we’re seeing now is the rope-a-dope they usually perform, which is buy time and try to lead us along until hopefully President Trump and his team’s out of office,” the former Navy SEAL said in an interview Monday on Fox & Friends.
“So hopefully this [round of talks] is successful, but we have to remind ourselves we are dealing with a regime that will not negotiate in good faith.”
“They don’t want the Straits to be open. They want you and your family and all of us to be killed. They want to wipe our civilization off the map—that’s their national motto. Nothing’s changed," he added.
The term “rope-a-dope” comes from a boxing strategy popularized by Muhammad Ali during his legendary 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” match against George Foreman.
It involves a fighter intentionally leaning against the ropes to absorb their opponent’s punches, but by tightly guarding themselves, they then goad the attacker into exhaustion, allowing for a sudden counter-attack.
Sheehy’s stark comments underscore the growing tension inside the GOP over Trump’s efforts to sell a peace agreement with Iran as the midterm elections approach in November.
While administration officials insist the talks are producing tangible results, many Republicans remain deeply skeptical that Tehran can be trusted.
Vice President JD Vance attempted to reassure critics on Monday, announcing from Switzerland that Iran had agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country following the latest round of talks.
He described the move as “a major milestone” and “the first step” toward permanently ending Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Technical negotiations are expected to continue in Switzerland in the coming weeks.
“Everybody is fully aware that Iran will agree to have Major Weapons Inspections in order to ensure “Nuclear Honesty” long into the future,“ Trump also posted on Truth Social on Monday.
But even that claim has generated questions. International inspectors were also already in Iran under the Obama-era nuclear agreement that Trump tore up and has spent years attacking.
Vance’s sales pitch also comes amid growing questions about his standing abroad following a series of diplomatic embarrassments, including a highly publicized snub by a senior Qatari official.
The former marine—who came to office as the leading figure of MAGA’s anti-interventionist wing—is now effectively touring the world celebrating the restoration of arrangements that already existed before Trump blew them up the first time.
And even Trump-friendly hosts on Fox News are highly skeptical that Iran will stick to whatever deal is eventually reached.
“I think they know the political cycle,” Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade told Sheehy on Monday.
“You are right, and the vice president and his team are aware of that,” the Montana senator replied, adding that this is why it was so important to put guardrails in place to try to curb Tehran.
“I hope Vice President JD Vance and Steve Witkoff and [Jared] Kushner can convince them to stop trying to murder the world, but this regime does not want a deal or the Strait to be opened. They want us to be killed.”
Trump ordered strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, expecting a speedy victory against the authoritarian regime. Since then, however, 13 U.S. service officers and countless Iranians have died, while a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz has led to more pain at the pump for consumers.
But the administration is now facing a backlash over its Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, which includes sanctions relief, oil-export waivers, and access to frozen Iranian funds.
Several prominent Republicans have publicly broken with Trump over aspects of the agreement, including senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Tom Tillis, and Roger Wicker.
They have raised concerns that the deal gives Iran economic benefits without sufficient guarantees that its nuclear ambitions have been permanently dismantled.
