The president’s words come back to bite him

The president’s words come back to bite him

In January 2020, Donald Trump posted “Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!” The Iranian embassy in India mocked that media post in which Trump was ridiculing Barack Obama, over the 2015 US-Iran nuclear deal in which, as per Trump, Iran managed to extract more than the US. The Iranian embassy in India then tweeted that not only has Iran “never lost a negotiation”, it “also recently won a major war” against the US.

Now with the memorandum of understanding just signed by the president, his words have resurfaced. Fox’s Peter Doocy recently reminded the president of his words. Doocy said I just want to ask you about this — a wise man once said, in January of 2020, ‘Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation.” The president said “Who said that?” Doocy said “Donald Trump,’ to which Trump responded “That’s what I thought you were going to say.” The president then said “Well, look, here they lost militarily, okay? It’s very tough, because I know that no matter what — if I would go, by the way, if I’d go another three or four weeks, those same people that are critical would say he went too long, he shouldn’t have, you know — no matter what.”

I am not going into all the details here but none of the reasons given by the president for launching his attack on Iran have been accomplished. But the agreement did bring back memories of John Negroponte’s comment after Nixon’s 1972 bombing campaign over North Vietnam (in which my brother’s B-52 was a participant) ““we bombed them into accepting our concessions.”

Israel Hayom says “The deal gives the Iranian regime a lifeline from the lowest point it has reached and resources to rebuild its capabilities. Instead of forcing Tehran to sever its ties with Lebanon, it strengthens Iran’s hold there. With an outcome like this, the Trump administration is making itself a laughingstock in the countries of the region.” Israel is unhappy. Vice President Vance basically told them too bad and “the interests of the US in an agreement with Iran may be different from those of Israel. Israel will like it or not like it, but this is the interest of the US.” This is because the agreement tells Israel to stand down its campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. But as the article concludes “
“Israel is not a party to the deal. It must adhere to its traditional position, according to which it will do what is necessary to defend its security. This applies to all fronts, and certainly to the Lebanese one.”

https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/06/15/iran-never-won-a-war-but-never-lost-a-negotiation

Here is what the president posted after signing the agreement:

I wondered how the president’s own fake news press would report the agreement. Red State’s editors wrote: Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all. 

Now that is a singular opinion if ever there was one!

https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2026/06/18/peace-through-strength-president-donald-trump-officially-signs-the-memorandum-of-understanding-with-iran-n2203467

The president at the G7 meetings made clear that the reason for signing the agreement was the impact of the closing of the Strait of Hormuz on the world economy. Trump said that “the alternative would be a worldwide depression” arguing that if he had not struck a deal, “the strait [of Hormuz] would never have been opened.” Trump called it a victory for the US. Iran and Hezbollah disagreed. Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.”  Hezbollah chief, Naim Qassem called it a “great victory.” Israel seemed dismayed and vice president Vance lashed out at Israeli critics saying that Tel Aviv couldn’t just “kill your way out” of every national security problem warning them that “No. 1: Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”

Trump himself lashed out at critics saying those who think he hasn’t been tough enough on Tehran were either “jealous, bad people or stupid.” “If you don’t adhere to the agreement, I don’t want to do that, but we’re going to bomb the hell out of you,” Where have we heard this before? Will this be another TACO moment? Regards, this “peace in our time” blather coming out of the administration seems like a Neville Chamberlain moment. Yes I know that Iran is no Germany in 1938 and has been severely beaten down by this war, but the same could be said about Germany after World War I.