The war on Iran has not demonstrated weakness, the US president has insisted, despite a peace deal widely seen as anemic
US President Donald Trump has denied that the war on Iran has highlighted the limits of his ability to project power, telling Axios on Thursday that “there are no limits.”
On Tuesday, Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding, extending a 60-day ceasefire and laying the ground for further talks. Iran has claimed that the US president signed the agreement “out of desperation,” which Trump has vehemently denied.
In an interview on ‘The Axios Show’, the president was asked whether the conflict had shown him the limits of his political and military reach.
“There are no limits… I haven’t learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but you know, there are no limits,” he said. “We defeated them totally militarily.”
Trump argued that the US blockade of Iranian ports emerged as a key factor in the conflict and demonstrated the strength of the American military.
The US-Iranian MOU “really probably is unconditional surrender,” he argued, adding that he would be able to maintain the fragile ceasefire and pressure Israel into holding off from attacking Lebanon.
“They have a lot of respect for me. And they do as I say,” he claimed.
Despite a US-Iran brokered ceasefire covering all regional fronts, including Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined to pull Israeli forces from the country. Tehran has responded by delaying follow-up peace talks due to start in Switzerland on Friday.
Later in the day, Reuters reported that Hezbollah and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire, following mediation by the US and Qatar. However, neither side has officially confirmed the development, and according to open-source intelligence channels, the IDF continued strikes in Lebanon after the announcement of the truce.
Shortly after the start of the reported agreement, Netanyahu hailed Israeli attacks.
“As I instructed – the IDF struck powerfully 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon,” he wrote on his Hebrew-language X account.
READ MORE:
US-Iran talks delayed as Israel defies fragile roadmap to peace
Tehran has stressed that while the US-Iranian meeting in Switzerland has been delayed, it is “not urgent.” The talks will continue in the coming days, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a press briefing on Friday.
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