{"id":558341,"date":"2026-08-04T03:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T03:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/558341\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T03:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T03:24:14","slug":"trump-slams-iran-leadership-as-unbelievably-duplicitous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/558341\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump slams Iran leadership as ‘unbelievably duplicitous!’"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump said that newly planned talks with Tehran are the \u201clast chance\u201d for Iran to forge a deal and avoid an escalation of US strikes on the country.<\/p>\n

Trump, speaking at the Oval Office, said he expects negotiations that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and create a pathway for Iran to address United States\u2019 concerns about it\u2019s nuclear programme will begin in the next day or two.<\/p>\n

The Republican president says, \u201cThe first phase is the opening of the straits. The second phase will be the denuclearisation.\u201d Trump says that \u201dwill take a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Trump has revelled in the US military decimating layers of Tehran\u2019s leadership and devastating its air force and navy, Iran is betting it can outlast Trump as he faces diminished stockpiles of munitions and the difficulty of executing a war that is unpopular with the American electorate ahead of November\u2019s midterm election.<\/p>\n

Trump said he decided to hold off<\/a> on ordering American forces to carry out new massive strikes against Iran at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

He said that a plan was in place for US forces to carry out \u201cthe biggest attack since World War II\u201d on Sunday. But he decided to scrap the plan and give diplomacy more time to play out after hearing from key Gulf leaders<\/a> \u2014 including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman \u2014 as well as at the request of unnamed Iranian officials.<\/p>\n

Earlier Monday, Trump had raised doubts about the prospects of negotiations after the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Tehran announced it is not currently holding negotiations with the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cIranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous!\u201d Trump fumed on his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (Source: Saul Loeb\/Pool via AP) (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Critics see Trump reaching for a reset button in this pattern<\/p>\n

Trump may still come to the conclusion that a massive escalation in the conflict with Iran is necessary.<\/p>\n

But critics say his hesitation also might reflect an unspoken understanding inside the administration that US military might alone may not be enough to compel Iran to back down and bring an end to a now monthslong war that Trump had earlier downplayed as a weekslong excursion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what we\u2019re seeing here is a president who has an approach that\u2019s just rather erratic,\u201d said Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on CBS News’ Face the Nation. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, he’s trying to get us back to February. And I think if he could \u2014 if he had a big reset button he could hit \u2014 he would certainly take that option.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been several moments over the course of the conflict when Trump has demonstrated his proclivity for the bellicose only to back off at the last minute, while declaring his threats spurred progress:<\/p>\n

\u2014 In early April, the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an announcement that came less than two hours before a deadline Trump had set for Tehran to capitulate or face attacks on bridges and power plants \u2014 strikes he said would mean \u201ca whole civilisation will die”.<\/p>\n

\u2014 After days of dire threats against Iran, Trump announced on May 18 he was holding off on a major planned military strike because \u201cserious negotiations\u201d were underway, crediting Gulf allies for persuading him to show restraint.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Then in June, Trump threatened to hit Iran \u201cVERY HARD\u201d and seize Iran\u2019s energy base on Kharg Island to “assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets,\u201d he wrote on social media, only to call off the strikes in a later post after claiming that peace negotiations had progressed with high-level Iranian leaders.<\/p>\n

Left unsaid by the president was that such an endeavour would require US troops on the ground in Iran \u2014 a risky proposition politically for a president who campaigned on avoiding foreign entanglements and criticised past administrations for getting bogged down in endless wars.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump stands with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on his visit to the White House, November 18, 2025, in Washington. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Call with Saudi crown prince affected Trump’s decision<\/p>\n

With this latest episode, Trump suggested that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played a particularly important role in him turning away from escalating the fight.<\/p>\n

The US president spoke by phone with the de facto leader of the kingdom on Saturday before announcing he was halting strikes that he later boasted would have been one of the biggest US operations since World War II.<\/p>\n

The crown prince conveyed that an escalation in fighting could have a severe impact on the global economy if Tehran responded to a new US bombardment by targeting some of the United States\u2019 Gulf allies, according to a person briefed on the call who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.<\/p>\n

Saudi officials, the person added, have underscored in their engagements with the Trump administration that the kingdom is in a good position to defend itself against further potential Iranian strikes \u2014 as are fellow energy titans Qatar and the United Arab Emirates \u2014 but that Kuwait could be more vulnerable to attacks by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a cold snap closes roads, mothers plead for help to save stranded sons, and Ariana Grande\u2019s big decision. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump said that newly planned talks with Tehran are the \u201clast chance\u201d for Iran to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,5107,43,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":["post-558341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}