Trump Waits for Iran’s Reply and Grows Increasingly Frustrated: ‘They Kept Stringing Us Along’

President Trump has been waiting for Iran’s response to his latest proposal for two weeks, and behind the scenes he has grown increasingly frustrated by the delay, which never produced an answer, according to two American officials. The trigger for the strikes Trump ordered against Iran was the downing of an American helicopter, but the goal was to restore U.S. leverage without closing off the path to negotiations.

“Had the pilots been killed, we would have been in a completely different place,” a senior American official said. Even hours before the strike, the United States tried unsuccessfully to get answers from Iran. According to the official, the deal is still on the table, but “the president is ready to make the Iranians pay a price if they keep dragging their feet.”

Why it matters

According to a senior American official, the strikes carried out last night were intended on the one hand to restore U.S. leverage in negotiations with Iran, but on the other hand to be measured and limited so that no one would be killed and the path to an agreement would not be closed. Qatari mediators held talks in Tehran today in an effort to get the negotiations back on track and narrow the remaining gaps between the United States and Iran.

While the Qatari and Iranian mediators met today, Trump issued new threats to attack Iran within hours. “We’re going to hit them hard again today, in case you missed it because you don’t turn on the TV, and we’ll see what happens with the agreement,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Trump said Iran had “treated us like suckers” and “led us by the nose” during the talks. “They just kept stringing us along, more and more and more,” he said. “We’re going to hit them hard again today.”

The helicopter crash and Trump’s decision to strike

When Trump decided to order a military response, the United States still did not know for certain whether Iran had downed the helicopter deliberately. Two White House officials said that even if the helicopter crash had been the result of an unintentional collision with an Iranian drone, the United States would still have had to respond to make clear that Iranian activity in the Strait of Hormuz was unacceptable.

“If we hadn’t responded, it would have made us look weak and also hurt our position in the talks with Iran,” one of the American officials said. However, the two officials made clear that the American strikes were “measured and targeted,” and that they were aimed at Iranian radar and drone command systems, while deliberately avoiding the killing of Iranian soldiers.

Several hours before the American strikes yesterday, the White House once again tried to get clear answers from the Iranians about Trump’s latest proposal, but received none. An American official said the White House made clear to the Iranians that “time is running out.” The Iranians replied that they still had no answer and warned that if the United States attacked, Iran would respond.

At around 5 p.m. Eastern time yesterday, as American fighter jets were on their way to carry out the strike, the White House sent messages to the Iranians saying the targets would be military facilities only. “We told the Iranians that if the pilots had been killed, we would be in a completely different place today,” an American official said.

The Iranians responded to the American strikes with a similarly measured and limited response and did not escalate further. The Iranians did not give the White House any answers.

The Iranians made Trump wait

Trump could have reached a preliminary agreement with Iran at the end of last month, if he had approved the outline that his representatives had reached with the Iranians in the talks. Instead, after a Situation Room meeting with his national security team on May 29, he sent the Iranians a request to amend two clauses in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end the war.

An American official said Trump was ready to make a significant concession and agree for the first time that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium would be diluted on Iranian soil, under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), instead of being physically removed abroad. In return, Trump asked that the dilution process be completed within 60 days and that Iran commit in the memorandum of understanding not to collect tolls or interfere with vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told mediators and the United States that he would need four to five days to take the request through Iran’s decision-making mechanism and come back with an answer, according to a regional source involved in the mediation and an American official.

During nearly two weeks of diplomatic waiting, Trump became increasingly frustrated by the negative coverage in the liberal media over his promises that a deal was close, and by criticism in conservative media that he was not being tough enough with the Iranians. An American official said Trump’s frustration grew when the Iranians said in private and in public that they expected to receive some of their frozen assets in advance, before carrying out their commitments under the deal. According to that source, Trump was not prepared to accept that. However, he noted that the Iranians would be able to receive the frozen funds if they took the steps the president is demanding from them regarding the nuclear program.

The escalation between Israel and Iran complicates the situation

Members of the American negotiating team and regional mediators warned the Iranians several times over the past 12 days that they needed to come back with an answer before various actors in the region who want to undermine the talks took steps that would destabilize the situation, or before a tactical incident on the ground led to escalation.

Last Saturday, Araghchi told regional mediators that he had passed Iran’s response to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei for approval, and expressed hope that he could submit it to the Trump administration on Sunday. But the next day the situation escalated: Israel struck in Beirut, Iran launched a missile attack against Israel, and Israel responded with strikes in Tehran.

“We told the Iranians they had made a big mistake by launching the attack against Israel, because they gave Bibi a golden opportunity to sabotage the negotiations,” said a regional source involved in the talks. Two regional sources said the United States and Iran were close to an agreement before the escalation between Israel and Iran, but afterward the Iranians did not want to appear to be surrendering to the Israeli strikes. An Israeli official claimed that Iran’s conduct reflects the fact that Khamenei and his senior commanders felt they had the upper hand after the latest round of fighting with Israel.

The helicopter incident made the situation even more complicated.

Behind the scenes

Over the past two days, Iranian and American officials held separate talks with Qatari mediators in Doha, according to a regional source. The Qataris tried to arrange a trilateral meeting in Doha yesterday morning to discuss the remaining gaps, but the Iranians refused to meet face to face.

What to watch for

Qatari mediators traveled to Tehran today for talks with Araghchi and other senior Iranian officials in an effort to restart the negotiations. Two American officials expressed hope that yesterday’s strikes would help push the Iranians to move forward and respond to Trump’s proposal.

Trump’s public threats today were also part of an effort to get the Iranians to give the Qataris clear answers. “The deal is still on the table, but the president is ready to make the Iranians pay a price if they continue to delay and drag their feet,” an American official said.