Trump 'boxed himself into a corner' — and was forced to back down on Iran threats

A CNN reporter explained that President Donald Trump has boxed himself into a corner when it comes to Iran.

Trump spoke to reporters on the tarmac of the Palm Beach, Florida, airport on Monday morning about the war in Iran, which has resulted in high gas prices.

According to Trump, his son-in-law had "very good and productive conversations with Iran regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East."

Trump claimed that Iran wants a deal badly and that it will agree to abandon all nuclear ambitions. Under the previous treaty, Iran agreed to limit fuel cycle activities that could lead to the production of weapons-grade uranium. Trump withdrew from that agreement in 2018, calling the U.S. a "dumb son of a b——."

Speaking to CNN host Wolf Blitzer, senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak recalled that it was only a few days ago (Friday), that Trump was telling reporters he wasn't interested in pursuing a ceasefire.

"So, clearly, something did shift over the weekend," assessed Liptak. "Of course, we know on Saturday night he issued this ultimatum that if Iran did not open the Strait of Hormuz, that he would strike a power plant in that country. What he heard and what his envoys heard over the weekend from regional officials, was that that would cause an enormous amount of escalation and retaliation."

Liptak explained that such a move would be seen as "multiple steps up the escalation ladder if Iran were to retaliate on energy strike sites in the Gulf, or potentially even on desalination facilities in some of these Gulf nations, which really rely on them for all of their fresh water. And I think it was clear that the president had essentially boxed himself into a corner by issuing that ultimatum."

Now, Liptak said, Trump is expanding the window of retaliation, giving himself five days for Iran to negotiate.

"Clearly, he has been rewarded in some ways by what we've seen in the markets this morning. We know that that's a barometer that the president often sets for himself. And so it seems evident that the president is looking for a way to end this conflict through negotiations, whether he actually finds a deal that he can agree with and that he can sign off on, that's the big unanswered question," he closed.

Trump told reporters that if there's no deal, "we'll just continue to bomb our little hearts out."

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