Donald Trump's brief diplomatic victory over Iran collapsed within 24 hours Saturday, as Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz after the president insisted the US naval blockade would remain in place until a deal is completely done.
On Friday, Trump had celebrated what he called "A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD," claiming Iran had agreed to keep the critical shipping lane open permanently. He suggested Chinese President Xi would be pleased ahead of their summit. By Saturday morning, that narrative had shattered.
The Iranian government reversed its position and shut down the waterway again. A UK maritime agency reported that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps vessels fired on a tanker attempting passage. Reuters separately confirmed an Indian-flagged crude oil carrier came under attack in the strait.
Trump's Friday statement that the blockade would stay "in full force and effect" until negotiations concluded "100%" appeared to have triggered the reversal. The president had promised the process would move "very quickly," but gave no timeline for lifting sanctions.
The White House convened a Situation Room meeting Saturday morning to handle the escalating crisis. A senior US official told Axios that without a breakthrough in peace talks, military conflict could resume within days.
The collapse of a managed message
The rapid turnaround reflects what has become a pattern of premature announcements undermining actual progress. Trump and Tehran both released statements designed for public consumption rather than as part of a serious negotiation track, according to analysis of the week's events. The result has been a peace process that appears to be regressing rather than advancing.
Iran responded to the maintained blockade by announcing it would reinstate a complete closure of the strait and refuse to allow any export of its enriched uranium stockpile, effectively hardening its position from where talks had begun.
The diplomatic stumble comes as Trump faces criticism from unexpected quarters. At a campaign rally in Georgia, Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff mocked the president's rosy Iran predictions while training fire on what he called the "Mar-a-Lago mafia" and suggesting Trump's military decisions would burden young Americans deployed to the Middle East and their families back home.
Even some Trump voters are growing restless. A Kentucky contractor who supported Trump three times said he's experiencing "buyer's remorse" over unfulfilled campaign promises on avoiding new wars and bringing down prices.
Elsewhere in the administration, FBI Director Kash Patel denied a report in The Atlantic claiming he drinks heavily and has been unreachable during his tenure. Patel said he plans to sue the publication over the story, which alleged members of his security detail have struggled to wake him on multiple occasions.
Trump did notch a win on a separate front Saturday, signing an executive order to speed FDA review of psychedelic drug treatments for conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder, a measure backed by military veteran groups.
On immigration enforcement, ICE disclosed it deported 174 people renewing DACA protections from January through September of last year, raising questions about how the agency is applying the program.
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump's ability to turn a tactical win into a strategic loss in less than a day reveals a fundamental problem with his approach to high-stakes diplomacy: announcing victories before actually securing them."
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