President Donald Trump returns to the White House, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Washington, D.C., March 1, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
President Donald Trump is "lashing out" against Iran and left "humiliated" as his much-hyped ceasefire deal falls apart, and as one veteran reporter explained for The i Paper, it all comes down to the fact that the country is "culturally incomprehensible" to him.
Trump raged against Iran during his visit to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, saying that the ceasefire with the Middle Eastern nation is "over" after attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and strikes against American military bases in Bahrain and Kuwait. He also called Iranian leaders "sick" and "scum," claiming he had no further interest in negotiating with them.
"They’re sick people, they’re led by sick people. They’re vicious, violent people," Trump said. "If they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over."
Simon Marks is a veteran reporter based in Washington, D.C., and in a Wednesday piece for The i Paper, he explained how this new tantrum from Trump over Iran was "a fresh demonstration" that he fundamentally lacks the skills and temperament to successfully manage a diplomatic deal with such a country. Furthermore, he argued that the breakdown stems from a cultural incompatibility with Trump's understanding of how to make deals in the first place.
"Trump’s latest bout of fury is a fresh demonstration that he has neither the patience nor the diplomatic mindset for the difficult negotiations that were set in motion by the [memorandum of understanding]," Marks wrote. "He expects Iran’s leaders to behave like New York property moguls. But they are not dealmakers in the American tradition, and Trump indicated on Wednesday that he finds their conduct culturally incomprehensible."
Numerous other observers have come to similar conclusions about the fraught peace talks, suggesting that Trump most likely expected to be able to bully Iran into total surrender, or to at least get them to give him something he can tout as a victory, as many other nations have learned to do when dealing with him. Iran's leaders are uninterested in any of that, having a strong desire to maintain their own strongman image, as Trump is, putting them almost irreconcilably at odds.
"If I make a deal with him, he goes out and he talks [about it]," Trump added at the summit, referring to NATO chief Mark Rutte. "If I make a deal [with Iran], and everyone is agreed, no nuclear weapon, they go out and say to the press: ‘We never even talked about it’. There’s something wrong with them."
"Of course, Trump’s claims in Ankara may simply be a fresh effort to demonstrate fox-like cunning and make Iran’s leaders fear that he’ll return to a hot war if they refuse to make the necessary concessions," Marks concluded. "But the Iranians are unlikely to believe him, and back at home Americans could quickly conclude that he has driven his own administration into a cul-de-sac from which no exit is possible. Trump can call the Iranians every name in the book, but with each insult they will conclude that they are the ones who are winning."