Trump's 'wild day' was not a win for most Americans: report

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks to members of the Republican Party, at Trump National Doral Miami in Miami, Florida, U.S., March 9, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump took Iranian leaders’ suggestion to wait his favored “two-weeks” before delivering the destruction of Iran’s power plants and road infrastructure. But Vox world news senior correspondent Joshua Keating said it’s hard to see what Trump got out of backing down after a “wild day’ of threats, chest-beating and ceasefire.

“It’s unclear to what extent the adversary has actually surrendered,” said Keating, pointing out that “Trump said a 10-point proposal received from the Iranian side was enough to serve as the basis for negotiations,” even though the proposal “was received yesterday, before Trump’s most dramatic threats.”

The Iranian proposal includes a guarantee that Iran will not be attacked again, an end to Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the lifting of sanctions on Iran in exchange for Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz. But Keating said it does not include Iran surrendering its remaining uranium stockpile or halting future enrichment, which was one of the many shifting reasons for Trump to attack it in the first place.

Iran’s foreign minister has agreed to allow international ships safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks for, so long as they coordinate with the Iranian military. Meanwhile, Tehran is portraying Trump’s announcement as a complete victory, saying Trump agreed to its terms in full.

“It’s … hard to imagine that an outcome in which the Iranian regime remains in place, and Iran retains its stockpile, would have been considered a victory for the U.S. in the early days of this war, when Iran’s air defenses proved utterly unable to stop the U.S. and Israel from devastating its infrastructure and killing its leaders,” said Keating. “Iran’s closing of the Strait of Hormuz changed the strategic balance in the conflict, effectively weaponizing the global economy and giving Tehran a new and potent source of leverage even as it continued absorbing blows. Even if it reopens the Strait now, it will retain the threat to close it again, potentially a more flexible and effective deterrent than its missiles and proxies.”

Of course, Iran’s defenses are badly depleted by military strikes, and its senior ranks “decimated by targeted strikes, and more vulnerable than ever to challenges from abroad and within its own borders, which Keating said probably pleases Israel.

“Israel always suspected the war would continue only as long as Trump allowed it to, and are probably satisfied for now with the damage they’ve inflicted on Iran’s missiles and economy,” said Keating.

But Keating added that the U.S./Iran agreement in its current state makes no lasting changes to the stalemate that has persisted between the U.S. and Iran for decades.

“Rather than the clear win some would like, or a definitive de-escalation, this may turn out to be another episode of another, more familiar strategy in the recent history of the Middle East: “mowing the grass.”

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