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Washington — In less than 48 hours this weekend, President Trump went from saying Iran has “agreed to everything,” including working with the U.S. to remove its enriched uranium, to warning that if Iran doesn’t sign a U.S.-backed deal, the “whole country is getting blown up.”
The president’s rapid shifts in messaging, expressed in phone calls with individual reporters and on Truth Social, come as the two-week ceasefire in the war with Iran enters its final days, and as the state of negotiations with Iran is uncertain.
The president has also shared contradictory statements about negotiations, telling the New York Post on Monday morning that the U.S. delegation, including Vice President JD Vance, would arrive in Islamabad Monday night. But after the president said that, a White House official said the U.S. delegation had not left yet, but rather, “plans to travel to Islamabad soon,” without a date given. Iran said Monday that it has no current plans to return to peace talks.
Here’s how the president’s messaging has changed since Friday.
Friday afternoon, April 17: Trump says Iran has “agreed to everything”
The president said in a Friday afternoon phone interview with CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang that Iran has “agreed to everything,” and will work with the U.S. to remove its enriched uranium. The president said the U.S. would “take” the uranium.
The president also told CBS News that Tehran agreed to stop backing proxy groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which the U.S. considers terrorist organizations.
Mr. Trump’s remarks came shortly before markets closed for the weekend, and as Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz open, oil prices fell and stocks jumped.
But within a couple of hours of the president’s comments to CBS News, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry released a statement that said, in translation, “Enriched uranium is as sacred to us as Iranian soil and will not be transferred anywhere under any circumstances.” The comment went on to say that “transferring uranium to the United States has not been an option.”
The conflicting statements raised questions about how much Iran had actually agreed to, and whether the president’s comments were more hopeful than facts warranted.
Friday evening: Trump says “I don’t think there’s too many significant differences” with Iran
Speaking with reporters upon his arrival in Phoenix for a speech, the president said he didn’t think there are “too many” significant differences on various points with Iran.
The president was asked about reports that Iran said there were still significant differences in their positions on a possible deal.
“Well, there could be,” the president said. “Let’s see what happens. If there are, we’ll have to straighten it out. But I don’t think there’s too many significant differences.”
The president said little about Iran on Saturday
President Trump, who returned from a West Coast swing late Friday night, said little about the war and negotiations on Saturday.
During an Oval Office signing event Saturday morning, when CBS News reporter Olivia Rinaldi tried to ask the president about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps firing on ships in the strait, the president told her and the rest of the press to “get out,” adding, “thank you very much, everybody.”
In the afternoon, the president went to his golf club in Northern Virginia.
Sunday morning, April 19, before 8 a.m.: Trump says that without a deal, the “whole country is getting blown up”
The president told Fox News’ Trey Yingst early Sunday morning that, “If Iran does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up.” The president said the talks in Pakistan would be Iran’s “last chance.”
The president’s warning harkened back to his April 7 remark that “a whole civilization will die tonight” without a deal. Later on April 7, the president announced the current ceasefire agreement.
Sunday morning, April 19, 8:10 a.m.: Trump says if Iran doesn’t take deal, U.S. will knock out every single power plant and bridge
An ambush that killed a French soldier in Lebanon, which France’s president blamed on Hezbollah, and reports of Iran firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz prompted concerns about the tenuous ceasefire and the prospects of a long-term peace deal.
The president took to Truth Social Sunday morning to say Iran’s decision to “fire bullets yesterday into the Strait of Hormuz” constitutes a “Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!”
“Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom,” he wrote. “That wasn’t nice, was it? My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations.”
Then the president went a step further, saying that if Iran doesn’t take the deal the U.S. is offering, the U.S. will attack all of its power plants and bridges.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Mr. Trump wrote. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!”
Monday morning, April 20: Trump says if ceasefire expires, “then lots of bombs start going off”
As part of a round of phone calls with reporters Monday morning, the president told PBS News that if the ceasefire with Iran expires this week, “then lots of bombs start going off.”
The two-week ceasefire has been expected to end Tuesday night, unless an extension or some other deal is agreed to.
Mr. Trump told Bloomberg Monday morning that it’s “highly unlikely” he’d extend the ceasefire if a deal isn’t reached by the time it expires. He also told Bloomberg the ceasefire would expire Wednesday night Washington time, not Tuesday.
