EASTORA REPORT | For weeks, Donald Trump has complained that Washington does not know who is really in charge in Iran or even who it is negotiating with. Tehran has now thrown the same question back at him.
“Who exactly should we engage with in the United States? Do all roads lead to Tel Aviv?” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei asked on Monday, accusing U.S. officials of sending contradictory messages over war and diplomacy.
Baghaei said those contradictions had left the world wondering who actually makes decisions in Washington. He argued that Americans themselves are increasingly angry at what he described as Israel’s “parasitic” relationship with the United States, saying Washington is sacrificing its wealth, credibility and standing for a government “whose only activity in our region is war.”
The line was an unmistakable reversal of Trump’s own rhetoric.
Last month, Trump said “nobody knows who the hell is running” Iran, after repeatedly arguing that U.S. strikes had eliminated layers of Iranian leadership. At an October rally, he went further: “I should have probably left their leaders because I don’t know who the hell we’re negotiating with.”
Yet negotiations are continuing.
Iranian negotiators left Doha on Sunday after three days of indirect talks through Qatari mediators. Reuters reported their departure was planned rather than a breakdown, while a draft proposal was still circulating and another meeting remained possible.
Baghaei said “the ball is in America’s court.” Tehran is offering a faster version of its plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, potentially within two days of an agreement, but insists the waterway will remain closed unless the U.S. naval blockade ends and Iranian demands are addressed.
Trump says the talks have been productive and has ruled out new U.S. attacks before Tuesday’s midterm elections, while leaving military action afterward on the table.
That leaves an unusual diplomatic picture: both governments say they are willing to talk, both insist the other side is confused — and each is now asking the same question about the other.
Who, exactly, is in charge?