Legendary CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour declared herself “confused” with Donald Trump in the discussion about iefimerida’s 15 years, and her network’s report on the number of times the US President has spoken about a deal with Iran comes to confirm her confusion. Specifically, they counted the times Trump spoke about an imminent agreement and found 38 instances within 78 days, from March 23 when the first reference was made until June 9. Almost one every two days. Trump has announced the agreement in various ways, either verbally or through Truth Social, where he announced a two-week ceasefire agreement with Iran on April 7. At that time, he had mentioned that two weeks were needed to “finalize and complete the agreement.” He concluded by saying that “it is our honor that this long-term problem is close to being resolved.” CNN reports that since April 7, it’s likely that nothing to little has changed. The report then lists all the times Trump spoke about an agreement.
Donald Trump’s repeated claims
The president’s related claims began on March 23, less than a month after the war started. Trump was speaking to reporters outside Air Force One about supposed peace talks and mentioned “significant points of agreement, I would say almost all points of agreement.” In reality, however, Iran had refused any negotiations. The next day, he began saying what has become a refrain: “Iran desperately wants to make a deal.”
By March 25, he announced that Iran wanted “to make a deal so desperately.” On March 26, in a Cabinet meeting, Iran was “begging to make a deal.” On March 29, during a conversation with reporters again on Air Force One, Trump was asked if he anticipated reaching an agreement the following week and replied: “I see a deal with Iran, yes.” On April 6, he stated he was “very close to a deal.” The next day, he announced the ceasefire, which was initially supposed to last two weeks while both sides would reach an agreement. A week later, on April 15, he declared: “I think it’s close to the end, I see it very close to the end.”
In the following days, Trump essentially assured that everything was finished: “It looks very good that we will reach a deal with Iran, and it will be a good deal,” he told reporters on April 16. On April 17, he claimed in three separate appearances that Iran had “agreed to everything,” that “I think we will reach a deal in the next day or two” and that “I don’t think there are many significant differences.” And on April 20, in a Truth Social post, he predicted that “everything will happen, relatively quickly!”
Despite this not materializing, Iran was still “dying to make a deal” on April 30. “When the war ends, which shouldn’t take much longer…” he bet with reporters on May 1. He takes a break for a few days, but on May 18 announces he’s postponing military attacks for two or three days at the request of Middle Eastern countries, “because they believe they are getting very close to a deal.”
At this point, even Trump seemed to recognize how often such predictions had gone wrong. “There have been periods where we thought we were getting close to almost a deal and it didn’t work,” Trump said, before adding: “But this is a little different.” It ultimately wasn’t, but he remained undaunted. “We will end this war very quickly,” he declared the next day at a Congressional picnic. From May 23, another barrage of predictions begins: he said his administration was “getting much closer” to a deal, that the agreement “had been largely negotiated and is subject to finalization” and that it would “soon” be announced, as “final aspects” were being discussed.
On May 28, in an interview with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, he said he was “close to a very good deal,” while a few days later he assured he was “very close to reaching a deal,” but Iran and Israel were jeopardizing it by engaging in side conflicts. “We are very close to a final deal with Iran,” he later told news site Axios. “It will be a good deal. I don’t want it to collapse because of what’s happening now.” It was at least the third time Trump had briefed Axios that a deal was imminent.
And despite tensions between Israel and Iran, Trump continues to insist. In an online event on Monday (8/6), Trump predicted “total victory” in the next two weeks and said Iran is “willing to give us everything.” Then, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, June 9, after attending the third NBA final in New York, Trump declared that the sides were “in the final moments of a very, very good deal” and that the Strait of Hormuz “will open immediately after signing, which could happen in two or three days.”
