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Even after the United States and Iran exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, President Trump insisted the cease-fire was still in effect and dismissed the Iranian attacks as a mere “trifle.”
“They trifled with us today,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he made an unannounced visit to the site of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, which he is renovating. He was visiting shortly after the U.S. military confirmed the strikes on Iranian military sites. “We blew them away. They trifled — I call that a trifle.”
The president then asserted that the world would know when the United States considered the cease-fire over.
“If there’s no cease-fire, you’re not going to have to know,” he added. “You’re just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran. And they better sign their agreement fast.”
He was referring to the deal made in a one-page proposal from the United States that would have both sides reach an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting for 30 days while they work on a comprehensive deal.
Mr. Trump’s effort to minimize the outbreak of violence on Thursday comes as he tries to keep a lid on the most serious crisis of his presidency — a war in Iran that has lasted longer than he predicted and has caused growing political problems at home.
The war is deeply unpopular with the American public, increasingly expensive, and even his Republican allies in Congress — which did not authorize the war — are growing impatient about when it will end. The war, which started in February when the U.S. joined Israel in a bombardment of Iran, has sent gas prices surging, compounding a cost-of-living crisis for everyday Americans that Mr. Trump has largely downplayed or brushed off. (On Thursday, Mr. Trump falsely claimed that “gas prices are way down).”
Asked whether Iran has responded to the one-page proposal, Mr. Trump said that it was “more than a one-page offer,” and provided an overview about the agreement’s sticking points.
“It’s an offer that basically said they will not have nuclear weapons,” he said. “They’re going to hand us the nuclear dust and many other things that we want.” When asked whether they had agreed to that, he said yes, but added, “When they agree, it doesn’t mean much, because the next day they forget.”
Still, though Mr. Trump said diplomacy was going in a positive direction, he cast uncertainty on the end result.
He said that “talks are going very well,” but warned that Iran was “going to have a lot of pain,” if the Iranians didn’t sign the American agreement. He added: “They want to sign it. I will tell you they want to sign it a lot more than I do.”
He said a deal “could happen any day — and it might not happen.”
Mr. Trump was much more eager to focus on the issue at hand. The president — joined by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and the border czar, Tom Homan — visited with construction workers, some with hard hats on and one with a “Make America Great Again” hat. Mr. Trump provided a lengthy update about the work that had been done since he announced the renovation last month, which he said would result in it looking “like a swimming pool, but industrial strength — much stronger.”
He was perturbed when asked why he was focusing on renovation projects as the country was embroiled in a war. He snapped that he wanted “to keep our country beautiful and safe.”
“A question like that,” he said, “is a disgrace to our country.”
