by Sharon Rondeau
(Mar. 26, 2026) — On Thursday morning, President Trump on Truth Social accused the Iranians with whom his administration is attempting to “make a deal” of publicly stating they are “considering” a U.S. proposal to end the hostilities launched nearly four weeks ago while privately “begging” for it to take place.
Trump’s claim is supported by earlier media reporting.
On February 28, the U.S. and Israel began an air campaign against Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities and ambitions, citing its decades-long fueling of worldwide terrorism and dubbing the initiative “Operation Epic Fury.”
In recent days, Trump has claimed “victory” over the Middle-Eastern nation by eliminating its navy, top leadership, army and communications infrastructure. Iran has been a U.S. adversary since its 1979 revolution, and discussions with regime members over what Trump said is a 15-point plan to achieve a peace plan have reportedly been occurring through intermediary countries.
In January Iran’s theocratic rule appeared to many to be about to crumble after tens of thousands, and possibly millions, protested it in the streets. As the regime cut off internet access and phone service at the time, it has been difficult to assess the number of protesters murdered by their government; however, estimates are that more than 36,000 have been slaughtered.
U.S. and overseas media have reported Iran’s repeated threat to destroy Israel “and some regional allies of the US” in retaliation, on which it acted by sending missiles into three Israeli cities on Monday.
On Wednesday White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the Trump administration is “very close” to achieving its goal of neutering Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon within a 4-6-week time frame.
Though missing their target, on Friday Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean and joint military base of the U.S. and United Kingdom dating back to the 1970s.
“Iran’s decision to target Diego Garcia with two missiles represents a calculated expansion of Tehran’s operational strike geometry beyond the Middle East theater,” wrote Can Kasapoğlu, a Defense Strategy Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute.
“Iran brings Europe into range with missiles fired at Diego Garcia,” The Wall Street Journal headlined Sunday, continuing:
The attack in the early hours Friday was Iran’s first-ever use of intermediate-range ballistic missiles, ones that fly far enough to hit much of Europe. The Trump administration had cited Iran’s work on missiles that could one day carry nuclear weapons to the U.S. among its reasons for going to war.
As recently as last month, Iran’s leaders were insisting they had limited their missile ranges to the equivalent of half the distance to Diego Garcia.
Over the weekend Iran’s posture appeared to change, Trump indicated Monday morning. He then announced a five-day suspension of attacks intended to destroy Iranian power plants after stating that “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST” had taken place.
“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange,’ Trump wrote Thursday morning. “They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal.’ WRONG!!! They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty! President DJT.”
In a cabinet meeting beginning just after 10:30 a.m. EDT, Trump said the U.S. military is “completely obliterating” Iran’s weapons stockpiles and munitions manufacturing plants. He repeated his claim that regime officials are “begging to make a deal.”
“They had a plan to take over the Middle East,” Trump said, “but we happened to come along, so it wasn’t so easy.”
First- and second-tier leadership in Iran is “gone,” he said, “because they didn’t make a deal.”
Had the U.S. and Israel not struck, he said, Iran would have “had a nuclear weapon within 2-4 weeks,” “…and they would have used it without question.”
“They’re sick…” he said. “They would have used a nuclear weapon on their neighbors, and then they would have come after us.”
He referenced Iran’s targeting of Diego Garcia with missiles the regime claimed not to possess.
He decried NATO for failing to “come to our rescue” in the operation, claiming NATO said, “We want to get involved after the war is over.”
“I said, ‘Oh, that’s wonderful; thank you very much; don’t bother,'” he said.
“We’re way ahead” in the endeavor, he said, and “We have the greatest military in the world by far.”
At what point do we publicly declare the obvious? They will fight to the death.