The Memo: Trump’s dash for off-ramp in Iran fuels fears of strategic defeat

There are huge questions hanging over the Trump administration’s strategic objectives in Iran, especially now that a tentative ceasefire has hit immediate turbulence.

Global relief on Tuesday evening, when President Trump backed off his ominous threat to lay waste to Iranian “civilization,” gave way to uncertainty and confusion Wednesday. 

A key figure in Tehran, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, complained in a social media post that Washington had immediately violated three terms of the tentative deal, notably by excluding the situation in Lebanon from the ceasefire agreement.

Israel has invaded southern Lebanon, asserting it is seeking to counter the militant group Hezbollah, which is widely viewed as an Iranian proxy.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in this phase of the conflict in Lebanon, according to local authorities, and more than 1 million people have been displaced.

Qalibaf contended that the alleged violations by the U.S. meant that “a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations is unreasonable.”

A spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, also posted a short clip of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire deal during Wednesday’s media briefing.

Baqaei asserted that this statement amounted to “early reneging” by the U.S.

For now, however, negotiations set for later this week in Pakistan appear to remain on schedule. At the briefing, Leavitt confirmed that Vice President Vance would lead the U.S. delegation in those talks.

The back-and-forth over Lebanon is only one part of the broader uncertainty around how much Trump really achieved during the roughly six-week war, however.

Trump and other senior figures in the........

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