Iran seems to be playing Donald Trump at his own game.
The president complained Monday that the Islamic Republic can’t be trusted to honor an agreement, rebuking its rulers for one of his own signature moves.
“It was a done deal, and then they broke it. They always break it,” he told Fox News of the memorandum of understanding that briefly ended paused the war. Trump did not seem to appreciate the irony of his critique, given his habit of walking out on multiple international agreements, including the Paris Climate Accord (twice). Some critics would trace America’s current predicament to Trump’s first-term decision to scrap the Obama-era deal capping Iran’s nuclear program.
Later in the day, a frustrated Trump vowed to impose his own toll on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran — in an offer laced with sarcasm — jumped in with a better price than the author of “Art of the Deal.”
“POTUS is absolutely right,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, arguing that Trump had legitimized Tehran’s position on charging for passage through the vital waterway. Araghchi added archly: “20% is of course too much. We will be fair.”
