With Iran openly targeting US soldiers and asserting its right to control the Strait of Hormuz, many believed over the weekend that US President Donald Trump had — at long last — reached the end of his rope.

“US, Israel preparing to bombard energy-related targets in Iran,” CBS News declared on Saturday.

Israeli outlets reported that Jerusalem was on its “highest alert,” expecting Iran to respond to the looming massive strike by hitting the Jewish state for the first time in months.

But then Trump backed down once again, claiming that Iran had suddenly agreed to make far-reaching concessions its leaders have said consistently that they would never so much as consider. Tehran quickly denied this.

On Gaza, too, the White House and its Board of Peace are placing all their hopes on an agreement — this one to disarm Hamas.

And in Lebanon, a US-backed plan to assert control by Beirut crawls forward, but it is entirely unclear how the agreement will actually lead to Hezbollah giving up its weapons.

And so the Middle East, and particularly Israel, is trapped in inconclusive conflicts that are suspended by Trump’s apparent belief, or hope, that a signature on a two-page agreement means a terrorist group will abandon decades-long religious commitments to violence against the US and Israel, or that Iran will budge on what it sees as its core interests.

Yet another Trump reversal

Back on Friday, Trump had said that he was “losing faith” in Iran after the Islamic Republic fired missiles at US troops in Jordan while — at least according to the president — the sides were in the middle of negotiations.

The Wall Street Journal reported early Saturday that Trump had ordered several days of strikes against Iran with the aim of forcing the Islamic Republic’s surrender. Other reports indicated that Israel could join the attacks, which were expected to target Iran’s energy infrastructure.

“We’ll be hitting them very hard,” Trump said.

There were some indications that this wasn’t just another bout of empty Trump threats. US embassies in the Middle East urged American citizens to avoid traveling to the region, and advised those already there to consider leaving due to the “potential for unforeseen escalation.”

Game-changing strikes by the US, possibly with Israel’s help, also seemed to make sense in the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to see Trump in Washington last week. The previous meeting between the two in February, we later learned, had seen them putting the final touches on the joint US-Israeli bombing campaign launched at the end of that month.

Moreover, Netanyahu and his team seemed pleased with this latest Trump meeting, with the prime minister calling it “one of the best we’ve ever had.”

But late on Saturday, it became clear that Trump had either been bluffing or had changed his mind again.

“We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to,” he wrote on Truth Social. “This would include the Immediate, complete, and total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.

“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” he added. “The country of Israel joins me in this commitment.”

In fact, Israel’s leaders, it appears, only discovered that they had made this commitment when they read Trump’s post.

Not surprisingly,........

© The Times of Israel