Trump’s incessant lying is making it difficult to end the Iran war

If you’ve been in a coma for the past ten years and have just returned to everyday consciousness, here’s something important for you to know: Donald Trump is the president of the United States and he’s an incessant liar. A world-class liar, in fact. Trump also is a sociopath, since he couldn’t care less how his lies affect other people and, indeed, the entire world.

For the rest of us, what I’ve just said is what we’ve been suffering with for over a decade. Trumpian lie after lie after lie. Many times a day, every day, virtually nonstop. This was irritating when the stakes of his lies weren’t vitally important. But it is infuriating when Trump’s lies have serious real world consequences.

As during the Covid pandemic, when he gave horrendous medical advice. As after the 2020 election, when his absurd assertion that the election was stolen from him led to a riot at the capitol and the deaths of several people. And as now in the midst of the Iran war, when Trump’s efforts to stop the war that he started are faltering due to him making assertions that keep setting back peace negotiations.

Today, in a post on X, CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale listed some of the Iran-related lies Trump has been spewing.

Trump said Friday that the Strait of Hormuz situation was “over.” It very obviously wasn’t.

Trump said Friday that Iran agreed “to never close the Strait of Hormuz again.” The next day, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again.

Trump said yesterday that Vance isn’t going to Pakistan for the talks. Officials quickly said Vance is going to Pakistan for the talks.

Trump said this morning that Vance had left and would be there tonight Islamabad time. Officials quickly said Vance is actually leaving tomorrow.

Trump said Iran has no military anymore and that “everything’s gone.” Iran continues to have a military with destructive capabilities.

Trump said the pope issued a statement saying Iran can have a nuclear weapon. That never happened.

Trump said nobody expected Iran to retaliate against Gulf countries. That was widely expected.

Trump said the only planes the US has really lost in the war have been to friendly fire. He said this at the same event at which he had spoken at length about what happened after Iran shot down a US plane.

Dale wrote a CNN story, also published today, “Even Trump’s most basic claims about the Iran war can’t be trusted.” Excerpts:

“One of the big differences between the current round of US-Iran diplomacy and prior rounds is that this administration and the President in particular are unreliable narrators,” Eric Brewer, a former National Security Council counterproliferation official, posted on social media on Friday. “Iran watchers have gotten pretty good at parsing statements from both sides over the years, but we’ve never had to contend with a US president that is so outspoken and prone to exaggeration, fabrication, and outright lies.”

Trump’s Monday claim about Vance’s travel was only the latest in a series of false, dubious or unproven comments about the war. Many of them were more substantive.

On Friday, after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared that the Strait of Hormuz would be “completely open” to commercial vessels during the ongoing ceasefire, Trump posted that “the Hormuz Strait situation is over” and that “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again.”

But the situation very clearly wasn’t over: Trump himself had posted the same morning that the US would continue its blockade on ships heading to or from Iranian ports; Araghchi had said its opening of the strait only applied to a specific Iran-approved path near its coastline rather than the lanes ships had generally used before; and an Iranian official posted later in the day that ships had to get approval from the navy of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and pay tolls.

…In phone calls with journalists last week, Trump made a series of triumphant declarations about major concessions Iran had purportedly made. These included an “unlimited” moratorium on nuclear activities (per Bloomberg), an end to its support for all proxy groups including Hamas and Hezbollah (per CBS News), and the US both removing Iran’s enriched uranium and taking it (also per CBS News).

After CBS News correspondent Weijia Jiang asked Trump whether Iran had agreed to permanently cease enriching uranium, he responded: “They’ve agreed to everything.”

Experts expressed strong skepticism that Iran had done what Trump claimed. And Iranian officials soon declared that they had not agreed to everything Trump had said they had; a spokesperson for the foreign ministry issued a statement saying, “Enriched uranium is as sacred to us as Iranian soil and will not be transferred anywhere under any circumstances.”

“The President of the United States made seven claims in one hour, all seven of which were false,” Iranian parliamentary speaker and key negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted Friday.

Negotiating an end to the Iran war was going to be difficult under any circumstances. The positions of the United States and Iran are far apart on numerous important issues. But Trump is making the process much more difficult by his lies and frequent policy changes depending on who he talked to last. Another CNN story today, “A deal to end the Iran war seemed close. Then Trump started posting on social media,” says:

As the weekend approached, the US and Iran appeared to be closing in on a deal to end the seven-week war.

Then President Donald Trump did exactly what his staffers have repeatedly said they wouldn’t do: He seemed to try negotiating via the press, posting about ongoing talks on social media and speaking to several reporters by phone Friday morning as Pakistani intermediaries updated him on ongoing talks with Iranian officials in Tehran.

He claimed Iran had agreed to a host of provisions that sources familiar with the talks said have not yet been finalized. He also asserted that Tehran had agreed to many of the most contentious US demands — including that it had agreed to hand over the enriched uranium — and declared an imminent end to the war.

Iranian officials outwardly rejected many of those assertions and denied they were preparing for another round of talks, rapidly tanking the rising optimism for a deal. Now, it’s unclear where the peace talks go from here.

Some Trump officials privately acknowledged to CNN that the president’s public commentary has been detrimental to talks, noting the sensitivity of the negotiations and the Iranians’ deep mistrust of the US. Compounding matters: American officials suspect there is a divide between Iran’s negotiating team, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, leading to questions about who can ultimately sign off on a deal.

“The Iranians didn’t appreciate POTUS negotiating through social media and making it appear as if they had signed off on issues they hadn’t yet agreed to, and ones that aren’t popular with their people back home,” one person familiar with the talks told CNN, adding that the Iranians are particularly concerned about appearing to look weak.