President Trump’s short-term intimidation may have worked, but the fundamental divides with Iran are as sharp as they were in February.
President Trump had been under increasing pressure to find a way out after he threatened to wipe out Iran’s civilization on Tuesday night unless Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, starting a weekslong war that spread to neighboring countries and rocked global markets.
President Trump, in vowing to systematically destroy civilian infrastructure and annihilate Iran’s entire civilization, appears to be creating evidence about his intentions.
More than 70 Democratic lawmakers, questioning his mental fitness, called for the president’s removal from office through impeachment or the 25th Amendment.
President Trump announced the deal hours after threatening that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran did not allow commercial vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
Senator Ron Johnson said he hoped President Trump was making empty threats, but most in the G.O.P. cheered his warning that Iran’s “whole civilization” would be wiped out.
The president’s apocalyptic rhetoric clashes with the responsibility of Gen. Dan Caine to protect the military’s honor.
U.S., Iranian, Israeli and other officials offered varying accounts about the state of negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson and Senator Ron Johnson were among those pushing back against President Trump’s threats toward Iran.