Insiders spill on shadow war targeting Trump to torpedo peace talks: report

After President Donald Trump announced Saturday that an Iran peace deal was within reach, “hawkish Republicans” targeted the president with a campaign designed to convince him he would "look foolish and weak" for pursuing it – a pressure campaign that appears to have worked following fresh U.S. strikes on Iran Monday, Zeteo reported Tuesday.

“Two sources with knowledge of the situation told [Zeteo] that hawkish Republicans flagged for the White House media coverage, social media posts, and other material arguing that reported peace terms would hand the Iranians victory and make Trump look foolish and weak,” Zeteo’s Martin Pengelly wrote in the outlet’s report.

“And then came the apparently inevitable news: reports of renewed violence. And so, Trump’s Iran fiasco continues.”

Trump’s announcement on Saturday was met with a wave of criticism from right-wing figures, with the president lashing out at said critics on Sunday as “losers” who knew “nothing” about the ongoing negotiations. Whether motivated by the “extreme internal pressure” he’s reportedly under or other factors, Trump did ultimately authorize strikes on targets in southern Iran on Monday, sinking two boats and attacking a missile launch site.

Bloomberg has previously reported that the president has also been under extreme “outside” pressure to resume the Iran war as well, notably from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch.