Trump projects confidence, claims Iran is ‘begging’ for deal, but war exit remains murky

President Trump continued to project confidence in the U.S. war effort in Iran on Thursday; He suggested online and at a high-level Cabinet meeting that Iran had been “destroyed”, that its leaders were “begging” for a deal, and that the US had “freewheeling” over Iran and “DON’T NEED ANYTHING” from its European allies.

His statement that the war was almost over — he actually said “we won” — contrasted with realities on the ground, where Iran continues to launch attacks and threaten oil tanker traffic in the vital Strait of Hormuz, and the United States continues to send troops and warships into the largest U.S. military buildup in the Middle East in decades.

Trump’s framing of the conflict also contrasted with that of Iranian officials, who were publicly defiant, disparaging negotiations and seemingly rejecting many of the conditions Trump offered to end the war.

“They better get serious soon before it’s too late.” the president wrote “because once this happens, there is NO GOING BACK and it won’t be pretty,” he wrote on social media.

“They’re begging for a deal, not me,” Trump said Thursday as he hosted his first Cabinet meeting since the war began. “Anyone who sees what’s going on understands why they’re begging to make a deal.”

Trump maintained that Iran’s military capabilities had been destroyed and that the American mission was “ahead of plan.” He said American forces acted unopposed on Iran and that “there was nothing they could do about it” because they were “defeated.”

Trump’s outward confidence, a defining feature of his war campaign repeatedly cited by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration loyalists, has persisted this week despite growing concerns in Congress — and not just from Democrats.

Scores of Republicans emerged from a secret war briefing on Wednesday clearly disappointed The administration has complained that it has failed to provide a clearer picture of its path out of the now month-long war or provide clear answers about whether it plans to deploy ground troops.

“We want to know more about what’s going on,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “We can’t get enough answers”

“I can understand why he would say that,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Democrats took a swipe at the President by comparing the war and his massive budget to rising fuel costs for average Americans and lamenting the deaths of U.S. service members.

“Thirteen Americans have lost their lives and tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent in just three weeks since Donald Trump dragged us into war without congressional authorization. There is still no plan, no clear justification, and no end in sight.” Senator Alex Padilla (D-California) said:. “Americans called for lower prices, not endless wars.”

For weeks, Trump, Hegseth and other war leaders such as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine have focused on U.S. gains in the conflict, counting Iran’s sunken ships and stranded aircraft, its assassinated leaders and its undermined missile capabilities.

In recent days, Trump has suggested that Iran is backing down because of these victories and that its leaders want to reach a deal. He said the United States was working on a 15-point plan that would forever prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons or threatening the United States or its allies. He and others in his administration accused the media of emphasizing casualties while ignoring tremendous victories on the battlefield.

Israel, America’s biggest partner in the conflict, projects similar confidence but shows no signs of slowing its attacks on Iran. On Thursday, he announced that he had killed several senior Iranian naval commanders, including Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Revolutionary Guard navy.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the deaths should send a “clear message” that Israel would continue to hunt down senior Iranian military officials. Iran did not immediately acknowledge Tangsiri’s death.

Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, praised Tangsiri’s killing, said U.S. strikes would continue, and called on Iranian fighters to “immediately abandon their posts and return home to avoid the risk of further unnecessary injury or death.”

Meanwhile, the death, destruction, and environmental and economic damage caused by the war has spread far beyond Iran, where authorities recently raised the estimated death toll to nearly 2,000.

Israel was fighting against a barrage of missiles on Thursday as explosions were heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and a crash was also reported in the central town of Kafr Qassem. Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Tahsin al Khafaj said on Thursday that 23 people were injured in an attack on a military clinic in western Iraq’s Anbar province on Wednesday.

As thousands of additional U.S. troops departed for the region, many of the tens of thousands of troops already stationed there were shifted to hotels and other temporary housing due to Iranian attacks that rendered the 13 regional military bases where they normally live “uninhabitable”; This reduces their war-fighting abilities. The New York Times reported.

Iran announced Thursday that it launched drone and missile attacks on a U.S. military base in Kuwait and a separate air base used by American forces in Saudi Arabia.

Gulf Cooperation Council secretary-general Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi accused Iran of charging ships for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, perpetuating the economic toll on global oil supplies. Environmental experts have warned of major pollution from burning oil and gas fields.

Emboldened by the Iran war, which diverted resources away from Ukraine and led the United States to ease sanctions on Russian oil, Russia launched a renewed spring offensive against Ukraine.

The distance between U.S. and Iranian messaging about the war and their negotiations to end it (which foreign officials say took place through intermediaries) contributed to tensions and allies’ reluctance to become involved; some expressed similar frustrations with Republicans in Congress this week.

Many allies have largely stayed out of the conflict, even as Trump vacillates between asking for their help and insisting it isn’t necessary.

In one of his social media posts on Thursday morning, Trump criticized allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, for “DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO HELP” in the conflict and said the United States would “never forget.”

At the cabinet meeting, Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened if the “right deal” was made with Iran, while insisting that Iran no longer had “mine dumpers” to threaten commercial ships passing through the key oil route.

Steve Witkoff, one of Trump’s chief advisors leading negotiations in the Middle East, said that the Iranians were looking for an “exit point”, that Pakistan was mediating between Washington and Tehran, and that the US presented a 15-point plan that “forms the framework of the peace agreement”.

“These are sensitive, diplomatic discussions, and you have instructed us to maintain confidentiality in certain circumstances and not to negotiate through the news media as others have done,” Witkoff said. “We’ll see where things go, and if we can convince Iran that this is the turning point and that they have no good alternative but more death and destruction, we’ll see.”

Trump also refused to say who Washington was negotiating with in Iran, but described them as “very smart,” “not stupid” and “very terrible fighters but great negotiators.”

He also said he knew they were the “right people” for the US to deal with because they had given him a “gift” by allowing “eight large oil boats” to pass through the strait this week, proving they were in control.

Asked whether he would consider sending US troops to Iran to buy enriched uranium, he said it was a “ridiculous question” that he would not answer.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was confident more commercial ships would soon be able to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz. He also told the president that he believed the oil market was currently “well supplied” and that energy prices would fall once the war was over.

Hegseth has repeatedly criticized the media for falsely framing the war effort as floundering or unfocused, saying Iran’s “air defenses are gone,” its leaders are hiding in “underground bunkers” and its fighters are losing morale.

He said Iranian officials privately acknowledged “very heavy losses” and benefited from both the United States and Trump, whom he called the world’s “best deal maker,” working toward a peace deal.

Meanwhile, he said the U.S. military “will continue to negotiate with bombs.”