The persistent stalemate between Iran and the United States exemplifies how U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tend to overestimate their capabilities while underestimating the strength and resilience of their adversaries
ByS.R.H. Hashmi | May 2026
How serious the U.S. President Donald Trump was about the outcome of his peace negotiations with Iran can be judged from his following assertion: “It makes ‘no difference’ to me if Iran and the U.S. reach a deal.”
Now, keeping the above in mind, note his following post on ‘Truth Special’: “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
Trump had given Iran until Tuesday, April 7, 8 p.m. E.T. - later extended to Wednesday - to make a peace deal, including the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. However, on intervention from Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif, who, after prior consultation with Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, and leaders from Iran, Türkiye, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, discussed the matter with Trump, who agreed to a two-week ceasefire, while pausing his attack on Iran for the same duration, provided that Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz.
And while all this was going on, President Trump said America had already won, regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. Meanwhile, Trump issued an expletive-laden statement that showed his extreme frustration and total helplessness, which seemed odd when he had
already declared a complete victory and also said that it did not matter to him if Iran and the U.S. made a deal. And then we heard Trump’s claim that round two of the peace talks between the U.S. and Iran could start within days. What muddle-headedness!
Perhaps pressure from pro-Israel lobbies, Epstein link, massive drop in popularity rating, parting of ways by some senior executives, opposition from democrats and even from many republicans as well as the general public, distancing by the European and Western leaders,
including former die-hard supporters, had all taken their toll and left Trump battered and exhausted.
Remember, Trump had declared complete victory, saying “Regardless of what happens, we win,” adding “We totally defeated that country. And “Let’s see what happens. Maybe they make a deal, maybe they don’t. From the standpoint of America, we win.”
Now, comparing the relative size and military resources of the United States and Iran, only someone devoid of all senses would claim that Iran posed any threat to the United States. So, this war on Iran was that of Israel alone, which, after taming of Egypt and Jordan, and invasion and destruction of Iraq, Syria, and Libya, by the United States and its allies, had left Iran and its proxies as the next hurdle to Netanyahu’s dream of Greater Israel, apart from Türkiye and Pakistan, of course.
In fact, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been unsuccessfully trying to convince other U.S. presidents as well to attack and destroy Iran, which, Netanyahu claimed, would not be much of a problem because after the elimination of Iran’s top civilian and military leadership through targeted operations, the protesting Iranian public would itself oust the ‘unpopular’ government. So, Netanyahu succeeded in trapping Trump, who had himself been looking for some spectacular success to counter his failure on many fronts that had resulted in falling ratings. So, Trump readily agreed, only to regret it later after realizing that he had been fooled by an even bigger fool, Netanyahu, who had massively underestimated Iran’s capacity to resist and also misjudged public reaction in Iran.
And Trump, who holds himself in very high esteem, was not too pleased with Netanyahu making such a spectacle of him in front of the whole world, and even that at a time when the American public itself was very unhappy with the performance of Trump, who had needlessly continued opening new fronts and losing on them.
Of course, Netanyahu’s loss is much bigger than that of Trump. Netanyahu had hoped that his spectacular success in eliminating the biggest of present threats in the form of Iran and its proxies would establish his reputation as the greatest warrior and the biggest benefactor of Israel for defanging Iran. He had further hoped that this would also persuade the Israeli public to forgive his crimes and strengthen his leadership, a dream that has been shattered now. And even Trump, sitting there licking his wounds, won’t be too pleased with Netanyahu, who may end up in prison.
So, the Iran misadventure, while sealing Netanyahu’s fate, has also done incalculable harm to the State of Israel. The Gaza genocide, arrogantly done by Israelis in full view of the whole world and shown on television universally, has created massive hatred for Israel and its government throughout the world, even in countries where Israel had enjoyed widespread popularity earlier on. Out of the major European countries, many have downgraded their relations/cooperation with Israel. And of course, Netanyahu has already been held a war criminal. Also, the Israeli Defence Forces, which previously had a great reputation for achieving ‘wonderful results’, have totally lost their reputation because of having failed dismally despite full military help from the U.S., even in finishing off Hezbollah and Hamas, much less forcing regime change in Iran.
All this has resulted in a great exodus from insecure Israel, including desertions in the army, with a fair number of reservists not reporting for duty when called because of unwillingness to die in unjust Israeli wars or for the simple reason that they have already fled from Israel in search of safer abodes.
Israel seems to be going through a particularly bad patch, the likes of which it probably never went through, at least during its recent history. And what is so shocking about it is that this has been happening at a time when Israel is being governed by its longest-serving prime minister, who, through his excessive ambition and overconfidence, has landed himself, Donald Trump, and their respective countries in an impossible situation.
I suppose Mossad and other Israeli agencies and Israel’s elders would perhaps now realize that the only way Israel can gain a little bit of respectability among the civilized world will be by getting rid of monsters like Netanyahu. Maybe they are looking up to Trump to bring this about, which would perhaps also partly satisfy Trump’s fury at Netanyahu for making such a fool of him in front of the whole world. The persistent stalemate between Iran and the United States exemplifies how U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tend to overestimate their capabilities while underestimating the strength and resilience of their adversaries.
And as for Israelis, they had better realize that with just about twenty million kosher Jews in the whole world, and with all Jews desirous of settling in Israel already there, and still counting just around seven million, for Israeli leadership, it is imprudent to jeopardize Jewish lives in the pursuit of acquiring additional Palestinian territory, which they reportedly do not require. So, they had better accept the offer twice made by the Saudi King and once by Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, to agree to the establishment of a viable Palestine State in exchange for normalizing relations between Israel and all Muslim-majority states.
The first step toward a better future is for Israelis to consider moving away from leaders like Netanyahu. Similarly, Trump still has a chance to restore his reputation by approaching Iran with sensible, independent, and reasonable actions, which could help address the wrongs done to the country.
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