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It remains to be seen what, if anything, comes from the latest Iran war peace talks as the countries exchanged fire Thursday. President Donald Trump has claimed a deal was imminent before. And the potential agreement on the table seems to be preliminary, regardless. What does seem increasingly clear, though: Trump is not getting what he initially wanted from this war.
In his apparent anxiousness to end a conflict that has proven more deeply entrenched than he foretold and has sunk his poll numbers to historic lows, Trump seems to have abandoned many of his initial maximalist demands.
That doesn’t mean whatever results from the most recent back and forth can’t be a good deal; it’s just quite notably not where Trump set the bar two short months ago.
The talks seem to revolve around producing a short memorandum that would lay out the process for a negotiated end to the war, though as of Thursday the US was still waiting on Iran’s response to the proposal.
The memo would trigger a 30-day negotiation period that would focus on halting Iran’s nuclear program for a defined period — US officials seem to want at least 10 years — and involve Iran turning over its existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
In exchange, the US could make concessions including relaxing sanctions and unfreezing billions in frozen Iranian funds. And both sides would commit to ending restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz.
Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 1, 2026. Stringer/Reuters
But from the beginning, Trump has said his goal was not a pause in Iran’s nuclear program, but rather to make it so Iran can “never” get a nuke. He has said that repeatedly, often using the word “never.”
And even the prospect of a negotiated deal is something Trump once expressly rejected.
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump said on social media a week into the war.
Another goal that appears to have gone by the wayside — and rather quickly, at that — is regime change.
In his video announcement the night the war launched in late February, Trump told the Iranian people, “When we’re finished, take over your government,” before promising: “It’ll be yours to take.”
“Now is the time to seize control of your destiny, and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach,” Trump added. “This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.”
And this wasn’t just some aside in the announcement; this was Trump’s closing section.
But this type of regime change isn’t even part of discussions anymore. Trump has posited that the killing of several Iranian leaders amounted to regime change, but that’s not a very convincing argument for several reasons — especially when the current supreme leader is the son of the previous supreme leader.
Another priority that often appeared on the administration’s (very inconsistent) list of goals was ending Iran’s support for proxy groups in the Middle East, like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Trump said March 2 that one of his main goals was “ensuring” that Iran “cannot continue to arm, fund and direct” the proxies. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described it two days later as ensuring “their proxies in the region can no longer harm Americans.”
When the president falsely claimed Iran had agreed to “everything” in a deal in mid-April, he told CBS News that it had agreed to stop backing all proxy groups.
But today, there is no reason to believe this threat has been extinguished or that it’s even a main part of the discussions.
The details of the negotiations reported by the media, including CNN, thus far haven’t included proxy groups. And when Trump spoke to PBS News about the prospects for a deal Wednesday, he didn’t mention proxy groups.
It’s rare that a war effort achieves all of its aims. But it’s notable how maximalist Trump went with his goals — and how quickly his administration appears to have abandoned some of them. In some cases, officials seemed to stop trying rather quickly.
And at least some Iran hawks seem to have noticed they might get far less than they’d hoped.
At a Defense Department briefing Tuesday, a journalist who otherwise praised the agency and the war effort proceeded to press Secretary Pete Hegseth to account for the failure to deliver regime change and a surrender.
“What happened to that pledge to the Iranians?” the journalist asked. “And when did the president decide to capitulate on his demand for unconditional surrender?”
Hegseth claimed Trump hadn’t capitulated and suggested the Iranian people could still overthrow their government if they wanted to — even at some later date.
Then he added that the goal was ensuring that any agreement with Iran would include a provision that the country “never has a nuclear weapon.” He said Trump has “been focused on that, and the deal and discussions are centered on that.”
Except just a few days later, it sounds like “never” might be off the table, too.
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