For weeks, President Trump has been issuing bellicose threats to Iran over its de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Reopening the strait and relieving the pressure its closure has had on the global energy market has been one of the few (revised) war goals Trump has been consistent about, and the Pentagon has been reportedly preparing for ground operations to that end. But now that the Iran War threatens to stretch on for far longer than Trump expected, and despite the price of gas rising over $4 in the U.S., he’s apparently considering abandoning the strait altogether and letting the rest of the world figure out how to clean up his big mess. That’s if they can see through the fog of his mixed messaging.

Last night, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has been telling aides that he’s willing to end U.S. military operations without addressing Iran’s control of the strait, and just leave the resolution of that massive problem to a later date and/or other countries. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had conspicuously omitted the strait from his list of U.S. war goals Tuesday morning, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week that it would be reopened “over time.” But Trump also posted an early morning Truth Social message in which he vowed to blow up Iran’s electric, oil, and desalinization infrastructure if the regime didn’t cut a deal and unblock the strait.

Then on Tuesday morning, Trump posted a new Truth Social message instructing “all of those countries that can’t........

© Daily Intelligencer