President Donald Trump is reportedly losing patience with his administration's war on Iran.
According to Independent, Trump is “exasperated” by the lack of progress in ending the Iran conflict and the lack of consensus on strategy among his top military advisers.
An unnamed ally of the president has told NBC News, “The president is exasperated. I don’t think he believed it was going to be this difficult to get the Iranians to agree to a deal. There was not a real strategy for how long or what they should do to get to the endpoint… He did not intend this to be a long, drawn-out war.”
A US official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the root of Trump’s frustrations lay in the lack of agreement about how to proceed with a war that began with joint US-Israeli airstrikes on February 28 that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but quickly brought retaliation, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and, ultimately, stalemate.
The official said, “After all this time, there is no unity. We have had a series of tactical victories but are facing a strategic defeat without clear policy guidance or a decision about where this is going.”
The source told NBC that Trump had “erupted” during a meeting with his top national security team last week and had even yelled expletives at those present.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has denied that the incident took place, however, responding, “This is false. The president has a great team whom he trusts, and everyone on the team knows he’s the final decision-maker.”
The president “is not going to stand by as they break the [memorandum of understanding], kill our soldiers and fire at our ships in the strait. So until that behavior changes, his behavior will not change. He’s locked and loaded to keep punishing Iran,” Leavitt added.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell likewise said the Department of Defense was “locked and loaded, ready to execute the president’s directives at a moment’s notice.”
