Trump’s failed bluffs on Iran expose the meaninglessness of his threats: analysis

U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 1, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

President Donald Trump’s foreign policy flip-flops have destroyed American credibility around the globe, journalist Fareed Zakaria argues in a Washington Post opinion piece. Now all that remains is a “strange” reality TV show.

“For the world there is no longer any such thing as American credibility, just a strange reality television show in which the main actor swerves, bobs and weaves his way through crises, hoping that what he says today will solve the crisis caused by what he said yesterday,” Zakaria writes.

He points to a recent Truth Social post in which the president threatened Tehran, saying:

“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST.”

When Iran refused, crossing Trump’s “red line,” what was the commander-in-chief’s response?

“To quickly climb down and announce that he had postponed any action on energy infrastructure for five days, claiming that — suddenly, overnight — Iran and the US had been engaged in ‘productive conversations’ toward a ‘complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.’ The Iranians denied any such talks were taking place. Now Trump says he’s extending the pause by another week and a half.”

That latest extension, which Trump invoked Thursday afternoon, led to online ridicule and mockery, with many declaring Trump had “TACOed” again — with “TACO” standing for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”

Trump’s flip-flops happen for a variety of reasons, such as the stock market falling or a nation handing him a gold bar.

But this time, they are not working, because Iran also gets a vote in whether or when the war ends — something Trump appears to clearly want.

“Trump has gotten used to playing with the U.S.’s massive power, punishing those who don’t bend the knee and rewarding those who do,” he writes. “In doing this, he is squandering credibility built up over decades to extract short-term goodies — sometimes to the benefit of his own family’s business interests. But in Iran he seems to have come up against an adversary that won’t play by his rules.”

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