Trump managing Iran war based on conflicting caprices that blindside his aides — report |
US President Donald Trump has been making key decisions about the war in Iran in a slapdash manner without input from his advisers, and was eager for a ceasefire to address rising fuel prices, according to a Saturday report from The Wall Street Journal.
The report, which cited several unnamed senior administration officials, said that Trump has waffled between pushing for going all-out against Iran with military force, and expressing a deep aversion to further entrenching himself and the US armed forces in a tactical, strategic and political mire in the Middle East.
At other times, the president seemed to lose interest in the entire situation, shifting his attention elsewhere and leaving his aides unsure what his next moves would be, the report said.
Throughout the war, Trump was focused on tactical metrics like how many Iranian targets were destroyed, and enjoyed seeing footage of spectacular explosions in Iran, US officials told the conservative American newspaper.
But when he learned that two US pilots were shot down over Iran this month, Trump screamed at aides “for hours,” according to the report.
His team kept him away from the situation room, because “they believed his impatience wouldn’t be helpful,” according to a senior administration official.
According to the report, Trump had expressed concern in March, after weeks of relentless US and Israeli bombing, that his campaign in Iran could doom him, similar to what the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and oil shock did to former president Jimmy Carter.
“If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter… with the helicopters and the hostages, it cost them the election,” Trump said, according to the report. “What a mess.”
After the second airman was rescued in a dramatic US operation, Trump unleashed a series of threats on Truth Social. On........