War

Trump Can't TACO His Way Out of Iran

The president is good at backing out of a losing bet—but this time, it's out of his hands.

Matthew Petti | 3.26.2026 12:30 PM

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(Illustration: Marwan Naamani/ZUMAPRESS/LENIN NOLLY/SIPA/Newscom)

The U.S.-Iranian war has taken on a strange rhythm. Several times, often just before the end of the trading day or weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Iran is about to fold and the war will be over soon. Billions of dollars through markets moved as traders bet that oil prices would fall and stock prices would rise. Then they came into work the next business day to discover that the war was still happening.

The latest iteration happened this week when Trump claimed to have held "very strong talks" with Iran, setting a five-day deadline for an agreement. He then hinted at a planned peace summit in Pakistan. Iran publicly rejected both a U.S. peace proposal and the very idea of direct talks. An Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Trump's opening offer, sent through Pakistani middlemen, was "unreasonable" and nothing like the media leaks from the American side suggested.

"The end of the war will occur when Iran decides it should end, not when Trump envisions its conclusion," Iranian state television broadcast on Wednesday, laying out some of Iran's conditions, including war reparations and an end to Israel's war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

While Trump claimed on social media that Iran was privately "begging" for a deal, the U.S. military moved more troops into the Middle East, and Rep. Nancy Mace (R–S.C.) came out of a briefing hinting to the media that the........

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