As he rushes to violate the indefinite ceasefire he himself extended, President Donald Trump is frantically trying to reframe public opinion on his widely unpopular war on Iran.
Trump, 79, attacked two of his greatest projected media adversaries in a Truth Social post on Thursday, asserting that he is actually quite calm amid his string of panicked moves in the Middle East, which include Tuesday’s indefinite ceasefire extension, followed by his orders to “shoot and kill” any Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz just two days later.
“For those people, fewer in number now than ever before, that are reading The Failing New York Times, or watching Fake News CNN, that think that I am ‘anxious’ to end the War (if you would even call it that!) with Iran, please be advised that I am possibly the least pressured person ever to be in this position,” the president wrote on his social media platform.
“I have all the time in the World, but Iran doesn’t — The clock is ticking!" he continued. “The reason some of the Media is doing so poorly with Subscribers and Viewers is because they no longer have credibility.”
CNN and The New York Times did not immediately return a request for comment on the president’s remarks.
As his war—or as he likes to call it, the “conflict” or “excursion”—rages on in its eighth week, Trump has appeared increasingly desperate to put it to rest, swaying repeatedly between outward aggression and peaceful submission.
Trump’s initial timeline of “Operation Epic Fury,” which has resulted in the deaths of 13 American service members, was “four to six weeks.” Though peace talks have stalled over the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the president seems inclined to put the conflict in the rearview mirror before the midterms.
“Iran’s Navy is lying at the bottom of the Sea, their Air Force is demolished, their Anti Aircraft and Radar Weaponry is gone, their leaders are no longer with us, the Blockade is airtight and strong and, from there, it only gets worse,” the geriatric president continued. “Time is not on their side!”
Reached for comment, the White House referred the Daily Beast to the president’s “TRUTH.”
Trump’s frequent assertions of total victory, including that the country’s naval forces had been “completely obliterated,” echo those of his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has also bragged that Tehran’s military capacity has been “decimated.”
“Their missile program is functionally destroyed, launchers, production facilities, and existing stockpiles depleted and decimated and almost completely ineffective,” Hegseth, 45, told reporters earlier this month.
A CBS News report published on Wednesday contradicts the two hawkish leaders’ claims, finding that Iran’s military is more capable than Washington and the Pentagon have acknowledged.
The report, citing U.S. officials familiar with intelligence on the matter, found that, as of the start of the ceasefire earlier this month, about half of the country’s ballistic missile stockpile and launch systems were still intact, along with around 60 percent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ naval forces.
About two-thirds of the nation’s air force is believed to still be operational as well, the officials said.
“A Deal will only be made when it’s appropriate and good for the United States of America, our Allies and, in fact, the rest of the World,” Trump concluded in his Thursday post.
