Latest whiplash

‘Eisenhower would be spinning in his grave’: Many Republicans are over Trump’s Iran bluster

Just days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a new “economic D-Day” to choke Iran, the U.S. carried out its first known attack on Iran since July.

By Megan Messerly and Alex Gangitano

President Donald Trump threatens in one moment to slowly asphyxiate Iran’s economy and, in the next, to quickly bomb them into submission.

Republicans who disagree which option is correct are still united on one thing: They’re over Trump’s seeming indecision.

The latest whiplash came this weekend, when the U.S. carried out its first known attack on Iran since late July, hitting rocket launchers the U.S. military said were prepared to drop sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. The president then threatened on Truth Social to blow Kharg Island, the energy stronghold, to “smithereens.”

The threat came just days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an “economic D-Day” to slowly strangle Iran’s economy. The value of the new, intensified sanctions, Bessent said, was to obviate the need for military escalation.

The seemingly contradictory efforts underscore the morass the administration finds itself in six months after the president launched a war he said would last only six weeks, and which he and members of his Cabinet have repeatedly described as over and successful.

“This was launched with no plan, has been executed with no plan, and has been largely driven by the politics of the moment,” said a former security official who served in President George W. Bush’s administration, who like others in this story was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the dynamics of the war. “That’s why you see this insane — we’re in, we’re out, we’re back, we’re out, we’re bombing, we’re not bombing. I mean negotiating by tweet — Eisenhower would be spinning in his grave.”

The president’s approach to Iran has left some of the GOP’s war-weary voices — who have at times included Vice President JD Vance and a slew of political operatives anxious over the conflict’s effects on gas prices and the midterms — disappointed that the war drags on. Meanwhile, his repeated unfulfilled threats to bomb Iran have disappointed the more hawkish camp, represented by the likes of Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

“A lot of Republicans who are supportive overall of holding Iran accountable or neutralizing the threat are frustrated,” said a former Trump campaign official. “He’s not pleasing anybody.”

One GOP strategist likened Trump’s Iran predicament to being stuck in the “friend zone.”

“You have two camps that are equally pissed — shows it’s not going great,” the GOP strategist said.

The handwringing comes at a precarious moment for Republicans who in just two months face an electorate that was demoralized over high prices even before the war began. The Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil once flowed, remains a chokepoint. The average price for a gallon of gas is $4.08, according to AAA, and diesel, which powers much of the American economy, is nearing a record high.

Still, some administration allies remain sanguine about the latest round of strikes and the president’s fresh threats to escalate the war. They believe Trump is astutely keeping the pressure on Iran, ensuring the Strait of Hormuz remains open to at least some commercial traffic while he bides time for Bessent’s economic noose to run its course.

“It’s just part of a tit-for-tat,” said James Jeffrey, a former ambassador who served in the Middle East during three presidential administrations, including Trump’s first term. “Neither side appears interested in a return to full scale strikes.”

Trump insists that Iran is a leaderless state that has only limited ability to wreak havoc in the region, telling reporters in the Oval Office Monday that “they’re a failed nation.”

“That doesn’t mean we won’t smack ‘em,” he said. “We will see what happens.”

The White House referred to Trump’s statement on Monday when asked for a request for comment.

But even his allies recoil at the wavering between threats to bomb Iran “back to the stone ages” or economically pressure it into compliance — and offers to negotiate a truce.

“He can’t stay on message or stick to a coherent, disciplined strategy, because he feels trapped now,” said one person close to the White House. “Trump realizes the political peril but can’t figure out a face-saving way to end the conflict. The Iranians clearly know this reality, too.”

And while Trump insists politics do not play into his calculus, there is a growing “time to move on” sentiment inside the White House, according to an oil industry executive familiar with internal discussions.

“The motivation to end hostilities is immense,” the executive said. “But there remains a solid coalition of advisers — at the State Department and the White House — who maintain, as they have since the military campaign began, that the Iran regime will only come to the table to agree to an acceptable deal if they are pushed to near extinction and have no other choice. The president had remained confident that he can get the Iranians to do a deal — some would say over confident or naively confident.”

The latest escalation, however, highlights how for all the economic and military damage that the U.S. has inflicted, Tehran still has the ability to drive the narrative, fire missiles that endanger U.S. personnel and force Trump to respond. It’s the situation Bessent hoped to avoid when he announced new sanctions last week, a move designed to force Iran back to the negotiating table without renewed military conflict that spiked oil prices.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Vance tried to paper over the daylight between the economic pressure campaign and the president’s renewed threats of military action.

“He’s sending a message to the Iranians,” Vance said. “What the president is saying is, ‘look, you guys are shooting at commercial shipping, you guys are behaving like a terrorist country. You’ve got to stop, or there’s going to be some consequences.’”

Tehran, meanwhile, has shown little sign that it is eager to reach a deal, pushing back on assertions from Bessent and others that the economic pressure campaign would constrict the Iranian economy to the point where its leaders would have no choice but to make a deal.

“Liar liar pants on fire,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, wrote in a post on X on Saturday.

And China, which purchases most of Iran’s oil, has balked at the threat of U.S. sanctions, with Lin Jian, the spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry, saying that the country “will do everything necessary to firmly safeguard its rights and interests.”

“China has made clear on many occasions its firm opposition to illicit unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law or the authorization of the UN Security Council,” Lin said last week. “Economic warfare and maximum pressure provide no solution.”