Here we are again, with yet another edition of “Trump says Iran wants X, Iran denies it completely.”
This was an effective tactic when there were more leaders in Iran who felt that they had a stake in power, and when the leaders of the regime were not completely controlled by the IRGC. The problem is now, of course, that most of those leaders are dead – or have had their arms twisted by the IRGC into compliance. The last holdout among the leaders might have been Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who allegedly tried to resign at the end of May, but either changed his mind or was point-blank told no, no resignation for you, because he’s still there and the IRGC claims he never tried to resign.
After weeks of dilly dallying around peace negotiations, which made it clear that the regime was stalling for time, Iran made the mistake of downing an Army Apache helicopter, which resulted in retaliatory strikes by the United States. And there it might have stayed, except that Iran then started striking back at U.S. bases and allies within the region. President Trump, as we noted earlier, had lost patience with Iran.
.@POTUS on Iran: "We hit them hard yesterday and we're going to hit them again hard today… And we'll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal — but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers because you know what? They dealt with some… pic.twitter.com/ScvGn14QFQ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 10, 2026
But either right before, or as airstrikes were underway, President Trump claimed that Iran had contacted him directly, saying that they wanted the bombings to stop.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday revealed that top Iranian officials had called him directly to request a halt to U.S. bombing attacks, according to Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.
The exchange, which marks a rare and critical moment of direct engagement between Trump and Tehran leadership, came as the president said Washington had delivered “vicious” and “violent” strikes earlier in the day.
The president also told Fox News the U.S. operation involved the deployment of 49 Tomahawk missiles alongside fighter jets targeting radar and air defense systems. The strikes were reportedly hammered positions about 40 miles outside Tehran and along Iran’s southwestern coast on the Persian Gulf.
Trump warned that the United States is prepared to rapidly escalate military action if Tehran does not soon sign an agreement to end the ongoing crisis.
“We’ll bomb the S— out of them tomorrow,” Trump warned.
But once this report was out, Iran promptly denied it. Which leaves us all back where we started, right? And who exactly is Trump talking to when Iranian regime members call him? Foreign Minister Araghchi? Pezeshkian? Ayatollah Flat Stanley himself, Mojtaba Khamenei?
See this is the kind of thing that needs to lead to an absolutely overwhelming response. It's not good enough if some minor figures in Iran want to capitulate if the IRGC does not.
Vahidi and Mojtaba personally capitulate or no deal https://t.co/lqnUnK7ykp
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) June 11, 2026
And therein lies the problem. Over the phone, whoever Trump is talking to can say whatever they want, and then Iran can do their usual taqiyya to wriggle out of whatever ass-kissing and lip service they just used on the President of the United States. The only language they understand is force. So, are we done with this song and dance and will just keep bombing them because they say they didn’t ask for it to stop, or not? Secretary Pete Hegseth sounded ready to be done.
.@SecWar: "President Trump said we will be hitting Iran hard — and we will be… As President Trump said, they've been 'tap, tap, tapping' … They're going to have 'tap, tap, tap' bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the United States." pic.twitter.com/GWXDHUlXrn
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 10, 2026
CENTCOM then confirmed that the strikes were carried out and completed on Wednesday evening (Thursday morning local time).
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces completed additional self-defense strikes against multiple targets in Iran, June 10, at the Commander in Chief’s direction.
CENTCOM forces launched strikes on Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites across Iran. U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy assets fired precision munitions on Iranian targets that posed a threat to U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters.
The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression. U.S. forces remain vigilant, lethal, and ready.
But after the strikes were finished, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan all sounded missile alerts for incoming fire from Iran. This is not over, not by a long shot. But it might be getting closer to the end.
https://twitter.com/BuzzPatterson/status/2064877181910860060
Now we get to see if Iran really does come back to the table, and if they do, if they simply repeat the stalling tactics all over again.
Featured image: President Donald Trump on March 5, 2026, official White House photo by Daniel Torok on the White House Flickr account, cropped, public domain
George V says: This is nuts. You’d think there’d be someone in the War Dept. or State Dept. who remembers negotiating with North Vietnam. The NVA strategy was “Let’s tell the Yanks we’ll negotiate, they’ll stop bombing, and we can build up our arsenal and resume shipments south.” We started bombing again, then the NVA came back with the same strategy.
Ken says: Trump has said all along that if there’s to be regime change in Iran, the Iranian people are going to have to do it. Which is why he’s held off destroying key infrastructure. But, it seems Iran’s “leaders” want Trump to destroy the key infrastructure to head off a total revolt by the Iranian people. Messy game, this.
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