Even the president may have doubts about his war.
Donald Trump, 79, reportedly threw such a tantrum during a fraught rescue operation in Iran that his aides banished him from the room as they were briefed.
Senior administration officials told Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal that the commander-in-chief went into a frenzied state upon learning two airmen were missing when their fighter jet was downed in Iran.
His hours-long tirade became such a hindrance that aides barred him from the room handling the crisis, opting instead to brief him at intervals, officials revealed to the Journal.
Before the airmen went missing, the president was already fixated on avoiding a repeat of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis—and the failed rescue mission under former President Jimmy Carter that helped sink his reelection bid.
“If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter…with the helicopters and the hostages, it cost them the election,” Trump said in March, according to the Journal. “What a mess.”
A frantic Trump feared the two missing airmen from the downed F-15E Strike Eagle—both eventually rescued after a high-risk recovery mission—could define his presidency, too.
The panicked president demanded the U.S. military rescue the crewmen immediately, while aides warned that the military needed time to assess terrain they hadn’t had boots on the ground in since the 1970s.
The pilot of the fallen aircraft was recovered later that day. But a two-day race against the Iranians for the second crew member ensued, with U.S. troops eventually emerging victorious.
While he waited, Trump reportedly wailed throughout a nearly empty West Wing over gas prices—which had surged to an average of $4.09—and the U.S.’s European allies, whom he has repeatedly raged at for not joining the surprise war he and Israel launched on Iran on Feb. 28.
Hours after Trump learned of the recovery mission’s success that Saturday, he kicked off Easter Sunday with a profanity-filled Truth Social tirade where he demanded Iranians “open the F—n’ Strait, you crazy b—--ds, or you’ll be living in Hell.”
He concluded the post, “Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The president later told an adviser that he improvised the controversial post so he would be perceived as “unstable and insulting,”—which he hoped would scare Iranians to the negotiating table. At the same time, even he seemed unsure of himself, reportedly asking advisers, “How’s it playing?” as his praising of Allah on Easter Sunday sparked widespread outrage within his Christian base.
Despite that, Trump escalated further on Tuesday, writing in another impromptu Truth Social post that a “whole civilization will die tonight” in Iran if his demands were not met by Tehran.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Journal that the president “remained a steady leader our country needs.”
“President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which is what this noble operation accomplishes,” she said.
Presently, a shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is set to end this week, with a deal still seemingly out of reach. Trump boasted to reporters on Friday that Iran “had agreed to everything” and that the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz—through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes—was over, calling it “a great victory.”
Less than 12 hours later, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard ship fired on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
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