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President Donald Trump backed down from his promise to restart the war in Iran on Tuesday, extending the temporary ceasefire a day after claiming that he would resume attacks on Tehran if no deal was reached.

A two-week truce between Iran and the United States offered a shaky, preliminary peace. That deal was set to expire this week. During a call with PBS on Monday, Trump said that Iran could expect “lots of bombs… going off” if a deal was not reached between negotiators for the two countries before the Tuesday expiration date.

Despite Trump’s seeming commitment to more strikes, Iranian negotiators pulled out of a planned meeting with Vice President JD Vance in Islamabad, Pakistan. The speaker of the Iranian Parliament shared on social media that Iran would not “accept negotiations under the shadow of threats.”

“Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn this negotiating table — in his own imagination — into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering,” Mohammad Ghalibaf wrote on X.

So then, almost predictably, Trump reneged on his vow to reignite the conflict, writing on Truth Social that he would wait for a proposal from Iranian leaders.

“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” he wrote. “I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”

This backtracking will undoubtedly revive a favorite attack from Democrats. They’ll say that Trump’s a welcher, that his mouth writes checks his tush can’t cash, that he “always chickens out.”

The barb is funny because it’s more than a little bit true. Trump has a reputation for dipping out when the bill comes due, metaphorically and literally, and it’s clear that being bawk-bawked at by the opposition gets under his skin. But do we really want to double-dog dare the president into another expensive, endless conflict? It’s one thing to note that Trump walks back his schemes if the stock market freaks out hard enough. It’s another entirely to goad the commander in chief into a land war in Asia.

What do you think? Is there any utility in goading Trump over his back-and-forth on Iran? Sound off in the comments.

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