An Angry Trump Struggles to Understand Iran’s Defiant Leaders

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Iran’s leaders have perplexed several American presidents, perhaps none more than President Trump.

Screenshot taken from this NYT article. | Mourners gathered at Azadi Square in Tehran last month, holding flags during the funeral procession for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader killed by an airstrike at the beginning of the U.S.-Iran war in February. | Credit: Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times
President Trump’s angry claim on Monday that Iran was being “unbelievably duplicitous” in its dealings with the United States was just the latest sign of his struggle to understand his rivals in Tehran.

Mr. Trump considers himself a master of sizing up and exploiting his adversaries. But Iran’s leaders have baffled him.

“All they do is make me angry,” he told reporters last week. “They just make me angry.”

More frustration could be in store for the American president. Trump officials say a new deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz may be near, but Iran continues to insist on collecting fees there that Mr. Trump has ruled unacceptable.

Mr. Trump’s inability to strike a favorable deal with Iran has not only cost him politically among war-weary voters, but continued strife around the crucial waterway has made for volatile oil prices at the expense of American consumers and the global economy. » | Michael Crowley | Michael Crowley covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy. He has reported from nearly three dozen countries. | Tuesday, August 4, 2026

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