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Trump says the Iran war is over. So why won’t he end it?

It may not be possible to TACO out of this one.

One way or another, President Donald Trump would like you to believe the war in Iran is wrapping up soon.

Though President Donald Trump is signaling that he wants the war in Iran to wind down soon — and claims the United States has already won — an actual deal to end the war still looks unlikely in the near term.

Trump has been able to quickly declare victory and move on from international crises in the past, but the scale of Iran’s regional retaliation, in particular the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, makes it difficult this time.

Beyond the facts on the ground, Trump’s communications with other leaders as well as his own information diet may make him less likely to quickly end the conflict.

Trump said this week that he is “very intent on making a deal” and that his team has had good talks with unnamed Iranian leaders, who also “want to make a deal badly.” He has insisted that the war has already been won and that “the only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news.” Wall Street, rattled by the war’s disruptions, seems to love the new happy talk about negotiations.

The White House has presented a proposal for a peace deal and is hopeful for talks via a new diplomatic track possibly led by Vice President JD Vance, with the government of Pakistan acting as intermediary. The 15-point plan to end the war that the US has presented to Iran, which includes Iran turning over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and accepting limits on its missile program, is probably a non-starter for the Iranian government. Iran has rejected the plan and presented a five-point proposal of its own, including the payment of war reparations. But warring parties tend to present maximalist demands at the beginning of ceasefire negotiations. It’s at least possible this is the beginning of a deal.

But a better question than whether the US and Iran can reach a deal may be why it’s even necessary. Why couldn’t Trump simply order a halt to airstrikes as he did at the conclusion of the “12-day war” last June? If he’s really done with the war, shouldn’t it be as simple as stopping the war?

Iran won’t let Trump walk away

The difference between this war and Trump’s previous military engagements with Iran as well as Venezuela and Syria, is that this time Iran has fought back to a much greater extent.

While this was widely anticipated by experts and commentators before the war started, Iran’s attacks on Gulf Arab countries and the disruptions to the global energy industry seem to have come as a genuine surprise to the president.........

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