Will Trump’s 39th Iran promise be another fanciful claim or the real deal?

June 13, 2026 — 12:48pm

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New York: At least 39 times, Donald Trump has declared that a deal between the US and Iran is close, imminent or nearly complete.

On Thursday (US time), he stated that a “great settlement” had been agreed. The scepticism was immediate. By Friday morning, both sides were publishing contradicting accounts of what had been decided, unravelling the hope that the end of the war was near.

The world has grown accustomed to the wildly oscillating cycle: will they or won’t they make a deal?

The US president often makes public threats of a return to all-out war, only to later pull back dramatically. Then come grand statements, hailing major diplomatic progress and claiming the conflict is nearing its end. The markets rally, oil prices fall, political pressure on the White House eases – and yet no resolution comes.

The Iran war has been narrated through the eyes of the US president. The view from Tehran has almost always been different.

“High-stakes diplomacy is traditionally about ambiguity, table-setting, but here it is all being conducted out in the public: Trump threatens a return to war and then shifts to diplomatic engagement,” said Jonathan Guyer,........

© The Age