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Analysis
‘He talks
too much’: how Trump’s erratic commentary is the real block to an Iran deal
Patrick
Wintour
Diplomatic
editor
US
president’s contradictory statements only make Tehran more wary of anything but
the most watertight deal
Tue 21
Apr 2026 17.49 BST
Donald
Trump’s blend of threats and hubristic commentary, often casually dismissive of
Iran, has, as much as the continuation of the US naval blockade of Iranian
ports, been a key stumbling block to restarting peace talks between the two
countries under Pakistan’s mediation in Islamabad.
However
much the Iranian foreign ministry insists it will not respond to every social
media utterance issued by the US president on Iran, and sometimes there are as
many as seven a day, Tehran cannot ignore them all, even if they contradict
what the Iranians are being told in private about Trump’s true intentions.
Indeed,
Trump’s impatience and rough-house diplomatic style has become a self-standing
impediment to a solution.
Iran’s
chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned that “by imposing a siege
and violating the ceasefire”, the US president “seeks to turn this negotiating
table – in his own imagination – into a table of surrender or to justify
renewed warmongering. We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of
threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the
battlefield.”
Iran’s
ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, made a similar point with a
reference to Jane Austen, saying: “It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a
single country in possession of a large civilisation, will not negotiate under
threat and force.”
Just as
Trump has to handle his querulous political base and the stock market, so the
Iranian leadership has to reassure a domestic constituency by pushing back
against Trump’s claims of Iranian humiliation and desperation, or his
insistence that Iran has climbed down on the key issue of its stockpile of
highly enriched uranium.
Trump,
for instance, last Friday responded to a tweet by Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian
foreign minister, that Iran would lift some of the restrictions in the strait
of Hormuz by effectively hailing Iran’s defeat, instead of reciprocating by
lifting the US blockade, as Iran had expected.
Later, in
one of many phone interviews that day, Trump said: “They [Iran] want me to open
it. The Iranians desperately want it opened. I’m not opening it until a deal is
signed.” In another unfiltered interview, he said: “They have agreed to
everything,” adding specifically: “They have agreed to never close the strait
of Hormuz again.” A day later, Iran closed the strait, leaving the impression
that Trump, not for the first time, underestimated Iran’s resolve.
One
Iranian diplomatic outpost in Ghana pointed out on Tuesday: “In the past 24
hours the president of the United States has: — Thanked Iran for closure of
Hormuz; threatened Iran; blamed China; praised China; declared the blockade a
success; confirmed Iran restocked through the blockade; promised a deal with
Iran; promised bombs will fall on Iran.” The embassy described Trump as a
one-man WhatsApp chat group.
At the
weekend, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said of Trump: “He
talks too much.”
By
Tuesday, in a string of contradictory remarks, Trump said: “I expect to be
bombing,” adding the military was raring to go, in reference to the imminent
expiry of the deadline he would not be extending. Yet two sentences later, he
said the Iranians would be attending the talks starting on Wednesday.
Through
the juxtaposition of contradictory sentiments, he simultaneously praised and
buried Iran.
“Iran can
get themselves on a very good footing, a strong nation, a wonderful nation.
They have an incredible people,” he said, before adding: “They seem to be
bloodthirsty and they are led by some very unfortunately tough people and not
in a nice way. We are much tougher than they are – not even close – but they
have to use reason and common sense, not be a country based on death and
horror.”
All this
may be intended to scramble Iran’s diplomatic radar, but so far the only effect
has been to make the country more wary and more determined only to agree to a
deal if it includes a clear irreversible enforcement mechanism that requires
Trump to stick with any agreement he seals.
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