Trita Parsi
tritaparsi.substack.com / April 19, 2026
To see how Trump undercuts his own diplomacy, watch what happens each time Tehran signals restraint: he rushes to declare victory—and tries to humiliate Iran in the process. This is what appears to have happened in the past few days regarding Iran’s signalling that the Strait of Hormuz was reopened. To better understand this, we should study a recent episode where Iran and the GCC were quietly negotiating new guardrails for the conflict, but ended up being sabotaged by Trump’s interventions. (See the full account of this episode here).
In short, Iran and the GCC were close to a deal: Iran would halt attacks on GCC states if their territory stopped being used to launch strikes against Iran. Tehran would move first, signalling de-escalation; the GCC would then reciprocate. But before that second step could happen, Trump jumped in. He declared victory on TruthSocial, mocked and insulted Iran, and escalated further with threats of “complete destruction.” As if to underscore the point, the US/Israel also struck a water desalination plant on Qeshm Island.
The effect was immediate and predictable: delicate talks collapsed, and a real opening for de-escalation vanished.
Trump’s fixation on the optics of winning overrides what actually matters—advancing U.S. interests by ending the conflict and securing a durable agreement with Tehran.
The same pattern appears to have played out again in recent days. When Iran, in a deliberately vague tweet, signalled de-escalation by stating that the Strait is open (while maintaining its long-standing position that it controls passage rather than “closing” it outright), Trump again chose spectacle over strategy. Instead of reciprocating, he rushed to claim victory and take another swipe at Iran.
What could have been the start of a mutual off-ramp was turned into an escalatory ladder—culminating in fresh threats this morning to “knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran.”
This isn’t just undisciplined messaging—it’s strategic self-sabotage. Trump’s impulsive need to project dominance, his fixation on optics, and his lack of focus are actively undermining his own stated goals: ending the war and securing a strong deal with Tehran.
This is not the Art of the Deal—it’s the Art of the Self-Sabotage.
Trita Parsi is the Executive VP of the Quincy Institute
