{"id":146077,"date":"2026-06-05T00:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T00:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/146077\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T00:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T00:56:38","slug":"with-trump-in-a-holding-pattern-on-iran-war-allies-and-critics-worry-he-risks-getting-boxed-in-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/146077\/","title":{"rendered":"With Trump in a holding pattern on Iran war, allies and critics worry he risks getting boxed in"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> is facing warnings from foes and allies alike that he\u2019s getting boxed in on the Iran war<\/a>, a conflict he sold as a brief military incursion but that has since settled into a holding pattern.<\/p>\n

It’s been a week since U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement<\/a> to extend the ceasefire<\/a> in the conflict by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran\u2019s nuclear program<\/a> that required Trump’s signoff.<\/p>\n

But Trump has called for unspecified changes to the agreement and Iranian officials \u2014 perhaps calculating that the Republican president is reluctant to restart the bombardment after burning through key weapons systems<\/a> \u2014 are showing no signs they’ll give in to new demands.<\/p>\n

A series of strikes by the U.S. and Iran<\/a> this week has raised fresh concerns that the ceasefire could collapse. But Trump on Thursday reiterated that he\u2019s certain his administration is on track to successfully wrap up the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re going to win one way or another,\u201d Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n

The shaky moment follows repeated claims by Trump since a 14-day ceasefire<\/a> was agreed to on April 7 \u2014 following 38 days of U.S. and Israel bombing of Iran \u2014 that a deal is just days away and the Iranian side is begging to come to a settlement.<\/p>\n

Without an interim settlement in place to reopen the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, global energy prices remain elevated<\/a> and are adding to anxieties around the world about the impact of rising costs spurred by the 3-month-old conflict on the cost of food, fuel and other goods.<\/p>\n

After a string of reports this week that Iran was shutting down talks<\/a>, Trump told CNBC he “couldn’t care less\u201d if the negotiations had bogged down and even mused they had become \u201cboring.\u201d<\/p>\n

There’s anxiety Trump is getting boxed in<\/p>\n

There’s growing concern inside the administration and among key advisers and allies that Trump now finds himself in a bind, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the administration\u2019s internal deliberations, both of whom spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.<\/p>\n

He’s buffeted by Democrats seizing on oil prices and warnings from hawkish members of his base<\/a> that an early exit from the conflict would amount to capitulation.<\/p>\n

Trump is privately hearing from other Republican lawmakers as well as Pentagon officials and Gulf allies that a return to the bombing campaign is a bad idea.<\/p>\n

Those advising against returning to military action note that the U.S. has burned through munitions at too fast a rate. It could take three years to replenish some key weapons systems<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gulf allies are worried Iran will retaliate against them and their critical infrastructure and energy interests and further set back their economies.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Trump has bristled at the idea of accepting a deal that resembles the 2015 nuclear agreement<\/a> brokered by Democrat Barack Obama’s administration, which restricted Iran\u2019s nuclear program in exchange for lifting international economic sanctions.<\/p>\n

Trump, during his first term, abandoned the pact<\/a>, which he said had failed to permanently stop Iran\u2019s nuclear program, ignored Iran\u2019s ballistic-missile development and did not penalize Iran for supporting militant proxy groups across the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Now, Trump, according to those familiar with internal deliberations, has made clear he feels strongly he can’t make \u201ca bad deal\u201d and is acutely aware he’s at risk of tarnishing his legacy if he missteps.<\/p>\n

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly dismissed the notion that Trump has been boxed in, or that there\u2019s any concern within the administration about the pace of talks.<\/p>\n

Trump resisted Israel\u2019s push for Lebanon bombings<\/p>\n

Israeli and hawkish allies in Washington have made the case to Trump that a deal at this point would amount to unconditional surrender, urging him to ratchet up economic pressure on Iran and back Israel’s assault on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

But Trump, earlier this week, in a heated call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanded Israel stand down. And on Wednesday, Israel and Lebanon said they agreed to renew a ceasefire<\/a>. Hezbollah was not part of the Israel-Lebanon talks, which have been held at the ambassadorial level in Washington since the beginning of last month, and the militant group has denounced the agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Remaining in the current status quo with Tehran \u2014 neither a full resumption of hostilities nor sealing an interim agreement to restart nuclear talks \u2014 is a situation Iran appears better poised to exploit, argued Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the hawkish Washington think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.<\/p>\n

Despite being the weaker party, Iran appears to be calculating that the longer the holding pattern lasts, the better the chances are that it can \u201cbox in\u201d Trump, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither way, Tehran appears more resolute than ever to not provide Trump with a victory image, hence why it isn\u2019t budging on the battlefield or negotiating table,\u201d Taleblu said.<\/p>\n

Holding pattern isn’t helpful for Republicans on the ballot<\/p>\n

At the same time, Democrats are trying to capitalize on Trump’s handling of the unpopular war<\/a> ahead of November’s midterm elections. The House of Representatives on Wednesday for the first time passed a symbolic resolution calling for a halt<\/a> in military action against Iran, with four Republican lawmakers joining Democrats in the rebuke of Trump\u2019s war.<\/p>\n

The president has dismissed the House vote as \u201cmeaningless.”<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome,\u201d Trump fumed in a social media post. \u201cThe four Republicans, that\u2019s a whole other story – They\u2019re GRANDSTANDERS! They should be ashamed of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

During hours of hearings on Capitol Hill<\/a> on Tuesday and Wednesday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Democrats laced into Trump for discounting the economic impact of the conflict on Americans and for failing to anticipate Iran would shutter the Strait.<\/p>\n

In one tense exchange, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker pointed to the unsteady ceasefire as a sign Iran has the upper hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the strongest nation on the planet Earth, and we\u2019re in a stalemate with Iran,\u201d Booker said. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re begging to get back into a deal that you all trashed in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio dismissed the criticism, underscoring that Iran has been placed on its heels with the strikes, which have taken out multiple layers of senior leadership and left Iran’s economy in shambles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no one begging,\u201d Rubio responded. \u201cI don\u2019t know where you\u2019re getting this perception that Iran is stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Democrat, Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, homed in on Trump’s comments last month that voter anxiety about the cost of living was \u201cnot even a little bit\u201d of a motivating factor for him to reach a deal to end the war.<\/p>\n

The president continues to downplay the rising costs for Americans at the pump and predicts that gas prices would fall sharply after the conflict ends.<\/p>\n

Christopher Borick, the director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Pennsylvania, said that Democrats running in swing districts around the country are already zeroing in on Trump’s rhetoric on the war’s impact on Americans’ pocketbooks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s significant risk in having this thing drag on for Republicans,\u201d Borick said. \u201cBut for Republicans in some of these tough swing districts, there’s a case to be made to rip the bandage off now, get some easing in the oil markets and hope there’s enough time for voters to turn the page.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in New York and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump is facing warnings from foes and allies alike that he\u2019s getting boxed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[10201,1275,38,47457,34,22365,47458],"class_list":["post-146077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-administration","tag-democrats","tag-donald-trump","tag-holding-pattern","tag-iran","tag-irans-nuclear-program","tag-tentative-agreement"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116694783257318933","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}