President Donald Trump is telling his critics, including members of his own party, to stop second-guessing his Iran strategy and let him work.
He posted that message at 1 a.m. Monday. By morning, Iran had fired two more ballistic missiles at American forces in Kuwait.
“Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in the early hours of Monday morning. “But don’t the Dumocrats, and various seemingly unpatriotic Republicans, understand that it is MUCH tougher for me to properly do my job and negotiate, when political hacks keep negatively ‘chirping,’ at levels never seen before, over and over again, that I should move faster, or move slower, or go to war, or not go to war, or whatever.”
The post came just hours after the U.S. military conducted “self-defense strikes” on Iranian radar sites and drone facilities. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched two ballistic missiles at American forces stationed in Kuwait in retaliation. Kuwaiti air defenses intercepted both.
The Republican critics Trump is lashing out at span both ends of the party’s internal debate on the war. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-M.S., Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-T.X., are arguing the Trump should attack harder to win a favorable peace agreement.
On the other end, Sens. Rand Paul, R-K.Y., Susan Collins, R-M.E., Lisa Murkowski, R-A.K., and Bill Cassidy, R-L.A., recently voted in favor of a war powers resolution that could force Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the region entirely.
Trump has been calm even as the conflict grinds on. In an interview with his daughter-in-law Laura Trump that aired on Fox News Saturday, he said he is “in no hurry” to finalize a deal.
“If you’re going to be in a hurry, you’re not going to make a good deal,” he said. He also said the media will hate the deal regardless of what it contains.
“There’s no deal that’s good enough because the media will cover it,” the president said.
Behind the scenes, the administration has been working on a peace deal. Trump recently edited and strengthened a draft proposal before sending it back to Iranian leaders. The administration has maintained its core non-negotiable: Iran will never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.
“The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons,” Trump vowed.
Despite the behind-the-scenes progress, Iran’s leadership continue to claim they are not yet ready to talk. According to The Washington Times, Iranian leaders have made a habit of pointing to American internal divisions — exactly the kind of “chirping” Trump is complaining about — to strengthen their hand at the table.
“Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end,” Trump said. “It always does!”