President Donald Trump insists that the United States will sign a deal with Iran within days and declare “total victory” over Tehran within two weeks, his latest in a series of timelines for ending a conflict that has repeatedly slipped past his predicted deadlines.

Speaking during a campaign tele-rally for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump said the talks with Tehran had not stopped during the recent escalation in violence, signaling that a deal to formally end the war could be reached within “one or two days from now.”

“We’ve been a very tough team, and I think we are winning that battle, but you’re really going to win it over the next two weeks when we declare total victory,” Trump said. “It’ll be a total victory. It’ll happen very soon, and oil prices will come tumbling down.”

The president repeated the claims hours later to reporters on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport, after attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals in New York. Trump said a deal could be completed “within two or three days,” adding, “Iran and Israel have been trading blows with force, and now both have agreed, through me, to stop.” He described the negotiations as being “in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape, or form nuclear weapons.”

Trump also predicted an immediate effect on global energy markets. “The Strait will open up right away, it’ll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days,” he said, referring to the Strait of Hormuz.

The remarks came after Iran and Israel agreed to halt a sudden weekend exchange of strikes that had threatened to collapse a fragile ceasefire. Trump maintained that backroom diplomacy with Tehran was yielding results, saying, “We’re negotiating now, and they want to make a very good deal. They’re willing to give us everything, they’re willing to give us no nuclear weapon.”

It is not the first time Trump has set a two-week clock on the conflict. It has been more than two months since he announced a ceasefire with Iran, saying at the time that the two sides were close to a deal. Trump said on social media on April 7 that the parties were “very far along” but needed two weeks for “the Agreement to be finalized and consummated.” No resolution followed.

The original ceasefire, announced April 7, was itself structured around a 14-day window. That truce was intended to last just 14 days, giving both sides time to finalize a broader agreement ending hostilities — a timeline that has long since passed. A day after that announcement, Trump told AFP the United States had won a “total and complete victory,” calling it “100 per cent. No question about it.”

The pattern stretches back further still. On June 19, 2025, as Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war, Trump said a decision on whether the US would intervene would come “within two weeks.” The US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites days later, on June 22. In a Monday analysis, CNN noted that despite repeated assurances negotiations were days or weeks from completion, no agreement has materialized.

The central obstacle to a durable deal remains unresolved: Iran has tied any lasting ceasefire to a halt in Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Trump told Sky News he did not expect renewed fighting, saying, “I don’t think Israel will go back to fighting Iran… Everything is going well.”

But the conditions that nearly unraveled the truce remain in place. When the original pause was announced, Netanyahu’s office clarified that it applied only to direct US-Iran hostilities and did not extend to Lebanon, indicating Israeli operations there could continue. Iranian officials have repeatedly said any lasting ceasefire must include a halt to Israeli operations in Lebanon and have linked progress on a broader US-Iran deal to de-escalation along the Lebanon front.

Those tensions flared again this month. On June 4, Hezbollah rejected a ceasefire proposal agreed upon by Israel and Lebanon after US-led negotiations, with the group’s leader, Naim Qassem, saying it was concerned only with “a comprehensive cessation of aggression, a cease-fire, and the withdrawal of Israel.” Iran has said it will not agree to a ceasefire with the US and Israel unless there is one in Lebanon.

The weekend escalation that prompted Trump’s latest comments followed that breakdown. By Monday evening, Netanyahu said the fighting with Iran had stopped “for now” while warning that Israel would retaliate if attacked. The pause leaves open whether the truce can hold, with Israel’s fighting in Lebanon, Iran’s backing of Hezbollah, and the US-Iran talks now tied together in a volatile regional standoff.

One point of contention underscored the gap between Trump’s framing and the facts on the ground. Despite Iran never having possessed a nuclear weapon, Trump has repeatedly called for Tehran to surrender its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which he has dubbed “nuclear dust.” “It is a phenomenal deal,” he said. “We are getting everything we wanted.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)