President Trump’s strategy of playing both sides is coming into question as he fumed over Israel and Iran’s continued fighting while demanding peace in the region.

The president was so frustrated Tuesday morning he dropped an expletive on the White House lawn on his way to the NATO summit, contending that the two adversaries “don’t know what the f--- they’re doing.”

He also offered a window into his handling of the situation in which he stressed criticism mostly for Israel but also Iran in his quest to end the fighting: “All I do is play both sides.”

Whether Trump’s strategy to have a foot in each camp will be successful depends on if Israel and Iran will abide by his desire to stop fighting in the long term, but some foreign policy experts think it will take more disciplined diplomacy to reach a peaceful end.

Elliott Abrams, U.S. special representative for Iran during Trump’s first term, argued that if the administration took a more subdued approach and called on Israel to de-escalate instead of retaliate when Iran continued strikes, Trump would have likely not gone on his “tirade” on Tuesday.

“With the announcement of the ceasefire and the Iranians cheating, the Israelis were going to respond. They did respond. And I think that had he or Rubio called Netanyahu and said, ‘We don't want to lose the ceasefire. So how do you plan to respond? And, don't blow up Tehran, do something moderate.’........

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