Whatever This Is in Iran, It Isn’t Victory

Color me skeptical.

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President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks during a press conference in the White House briefing room in Washington, D.C., April 6, 2026.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

The Iran war has been called to a temporary halt — or so we are officially told to believe — at least for now. After escalating from threatening “bridge and tunnel” day against Iran on Easter Sunday (in other words, a devastation of their infrastructure) to threatening civilizational apocalypse on Tuesday morning, President Trump immediately turned around and declared a cease-fire on Tuesday afternoon.

He did this — in a Truth Social post — even though the “negotiating terms” he said the U.S. was working from were entirely different from Iran’s and wholly incompatible with them. And even though the Iranian regime said almost immediately that it recognized no such cease-fire. Who cares? JD Vance will “lead talks” this weekend anyway, whoever they’re with and whatever they’re worth.

Jeffrey Blehar

About the Author

Jeffrey Blehar

Jeffrey Blehar is a National Review staff writer living in Chicago. He is also the co-host of National Review’s Political Beats podcast, which explores the great music of the modern era with guests from the political world happy to find something non-political to talk about.

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