President Trump\u2019s strategy of playing both sides is coming into question as he fumed over Israel and Iran\u2019s continued fighting while demanding peace in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president was so frustrated Tuesday morning he dropped an expletive on the White House lawn on his way to the NATO summit, contending that the two adversaries \u201cdon\u2019t know what the f\u2014 they\u2019re doing.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also offered a window into his handling of the situation<\/strong> in which he stressed criticism mostly for Israel but also for Iran in his quest to end the fighting: \u201cAll I do is play both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether Trump\u2019s strategy to have a foot in each camp will be successful depends on whether Israel and Iran will abide by his desire to stop fighting in the long term, but some foreign policy experts think it will take more disciplined diplomacy<\/strong> to reach a peaceful end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elliott Abrams, U.S. special representative for Iran during Trump\u2019s first term, argued that if the administration took a more subdued approach and called on Israel to de-escalate instead of retaliate when Iran continued strikes, Trump would have likely not gone on his \u201ctirade\u201d<\/strong> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith the announcement of the ceasefire and the Iranians cheating, the Israelis were going to respond. They did respond. And I think that had he or Rubio called Netanyahu and said, \u2018We don\u2019t want to lose the ceasefire. So how do you plan to respond? And, don\u2019t blow up Tehran, do something moderate.\u2019 That would have worked,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cThere was no need for a public and private tirade.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump allies have argued that the president\u2019s flexibility and willingness to pivot on a dime is an asset, particularly when it comes to foreign policy. Where critics see Trump as having few strongly held beliefs and a lack of commitment to long-standing allies<\/strong>, the president\u2019s supporters see him as able to shift his tone and approach to get whatever result he desires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One Trump ally noted that the Iran-Israel conflict was far from the first time the president has deployed an \u201call sides\u201d approach.<\/strong> They argued Trump has used it at times when addressing the war in Ukraine, alternately attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2002<\/u><\/a>and bellowing that he is unhappy with Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2002<\/u><\/a>as he attempts to bring the two sides to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A version of that was also on full display<\/strong> Tuesday as Trump posted a cascade of Truth Social posts as he was flying to the Netherlands for the NATO summit this week. While he left the White House just after sunrise in a huff, his Truth Social posts soon began suggesting that the ceasefire was holding and that he was telling Israel to turn their planes around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By late Tuesday, the ceasefire appeared to have been held<\/strong> by both Israel and Iran, with few, if any, reports of Tehran striking Israel after Trump\u2019s earlier remarks. Trump said there wouldn\u2019t be consequences for the fighting that occurred overnight when the ceasefire was supposed to begin initially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n