\n The pattern played out again Monday, when Trump yet again backed off on threatened attacks<\/a> just hours after saying he planned to take over Kharg Island. As he has before, he cited supposed progress in negotiating an agreement.\n <\/p>\n \n The problem with this approach is that it has made it pretty clear that Trump lacks the will to go back to war \u2014 that he prefers to just be done with it all, even as Iran plays on his reluctance.\n <\/p>\n \n And it increasingly appears as though Trump hoping against hope just delayed an inevitable return to the kind of hostilities that resumed this week before Trump\u2019s latest claim of an imminent bargain.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s fanciful treatment of a potential deal with Iran appears to have mostly prolonged the war and its economic pain \u2014 and brought the situation closer to the 2026 midterm elections, which increasingly loom as a major leverage point for Iran.\n <\/p>\n \n Even as hostilities intensified over the last 24 hours \u2014 largely in the wake of Iran downing a US Army Apache helicopter whose pilots had to be saved \u2014 Trump was almost begrudging about being dragged back in.\n <\/p>\n \n In a Tuesday social media post, he downplayed the severity of Iran downing the helicopter while saying, \u201cNevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack<\/a>.\u201d He told the Wall Street Journal the same day that Iran\u2019s attack \u201cwasn\u2019t a big deal<\/a>.\u201d While talking about retaliation, he said Wednesday, \u201cI guess we have the right to do that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump has also mixed in some very tough talk about how hard he would hit Iran \u2014 even saying on social media on Thursday that the US military would soon \u201cbe taking Kharg Island,\u201d an operation that would likely require ground troops and could risk <\/a>significant casualties.\n <\/p>\n \n But just minutes later, there he was on Fox News downplaying that possibility by repeatedly citing Americans\u2019 lack of \u201cappetite\u201d<\/a> for such military action.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m not sure the country has the appetite for it,\u201d Trump said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m not sure the country has the appetite for it,\u201d he soon repeated. \u201cAnd that\u2019s okay, I understand that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI don\u2019t want to have boots on the ground, but if I wanted to, we could put a small group of soldiers and take over the whole place,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n The president later added: \u201cI don\u2019t know that America has the appetite to do what I would really much prefer doing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But it often looks like it\u2019s Trump who lacks the stomach.\n <\/p>\n \n Early in the war, he repeatedly set deadlines for Iran to capitulate or else, only to relax them<\/a> despite Tehran not meeting his demands. (This is also known as bluffing.)\n <\/p>\n \n Trump on April 7 announced a hastily assembled ceasefire whose terms nobody seemed to agree on. Then the administration tried to keep the appearance of the truce going even though Iran didn\u2019t do the one major thing Trump insisted it had to. He initially said the ceasefire was \u201csubject to \u2026 the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz\u201d \u2014 which never happened.\n <\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-11t015617z-1533577230-rc2drlapiwo9-rtrmadp-3-iran-crisis-usa-centcom.JPG\")
<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/gettyimages-652502830.jpg\")
<\/p>\n