CNN’s Jake Tapper Hammers Trump Over Blizzard of ‘False’ and ‘Confusing’ Chatter on Iran War

CNN anchor Jake Tapper hammered President Donald Trump and his administration over what he called “a series of false, unproven or confusing comments” as the Iran War shows no signs of stopping.

The Iran war has been characterized by conflicting messages from the beginning, a trend that has escalated since Trump announced a permanent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, which lasted a matter of hours.

On Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, Tapper spent several minutes calling out the latest blizzard of confusion, including several cryptic exchanges from Trump’s marathon CNBC interview:

JAKE TAPPER: A short time ago, President Trump announced that he is no longer imposing a deadline for the Iranians to respond. He extending the ceasefire that was set to expire tomorrow. At this time.

He’s extending it again, it sounds like indefinitely. He posted on Truth Social, quote, 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. I have therefore directed our military to continue the blockade and in all other respects remain ready and able to and will therefore extend the ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted and discussions are concluded one way or another, unquote.

In other words, the deadline has been replaced with what sounds a lot like the opposite of a deadline, an indefinite time period. The ceasefire extension comes just one day before it was set to expire tomorrow, 5:00 p.m. Eastern and amidst a muddle of mixed messages from President Trump and his team about this war, the second round of peace talks with Iran were supposed to have started yesterday.

President Trump told ABC News on Sunday morning that Vice President JD Vance was not going to head to Pakistan to do the peace talks. Then Trump apparently changed his mind. He told the New York Post yesterday that Vice President Vance was on his way to Pakistan to head up the peace talks.

They’re heading over now. The New York Post quoted Trump saying, they’ll be there tonight. Islamabad time. Now the Post later updated its story, taking out a reference to specific timing.

We should note Vance remains in Washington, DC. He has never left for Pakistan, despite the President saying he was on his way. And as for Iran, Iran never fully formally agreed to be there for the negotiations, with a bunch of mixed messages from them as well.

Trump’s claim about Vance’s travel is only the latest in a series of false, unproven or confusing comments that the President and his team have made about the war in just the last few days. Last Friday, nearly 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, Trump posted in all caps, quote, the Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business, unquote.

45 minutes later, he declared the straight situation over. About 30 minutes after that, he posted, quote, Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the world, unquote. Sounds like great news.

But Iran did in fact close the Strait of Hormuz again the very next day. They said they did so because the Trump ordered blockade of Iranian ships was still in place.

As of this morning. During his interview with CNBC, President Trump sounded unlikely to reopen the crucial shipping strait for Iran.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The blockade has been a tremendous success. They said two days ago, we will open the strait. I said, no, we’re not going to open the strait until we have a final deal. No, we want to open the strait. They said, we’re not opening. We totally control the strait. Just so you understand, for all the fake news out there.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TAPPER: Even more confusing. Also new today, the U.S. has intercepted a second Iranian ship. The Defense Department releasing this video calling it a sanctioned vessel, previously sanctioned by the US. It is noticeable that the U.S. intercepted this ship in the Indian Ocean. That prompts the question, is the U.S. now extending the blockade on Iranian ships in the strait, far beyond the strait?

This latest interception took place nowhere near the Gulf of Oman, where U.S. forces seized that first Iranian ship Sunday.

Also, during his CNBC interview earlier today, President Trump offered this tidbit about one of the ships that has been intercepted.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: We caught a ship yesterday that had some things on it which wasn’t very nice. A gift from China, perhaps. I don’t know, but I was a little surprised. But because I have a very good relationship and I thought I had an understanding with President Xi. But that’s all right. That’s the way war goes, right?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TAPPER: The White House has not clarified which ship the President was referring to. But we should note, just last week, President Trump threatened to take serious action if reports turned out to be true about China preparing to send weapons to Iran.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: I hear news reports about China giving the shoulder missiles, what’s called a shoulder missile, anti-aircraft missile. I doubt they would do that because I have a relationship and I think they wouldn’t do that. But maybe they did a little bit at the beginning, but I don’t think they would anymore. No, but if we catch them doing that, they get a 50 percent tariff, which is a staggering. That’s a staggering amount.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TAPPER: No news from the White House today about President Trump imposing a 50 percent tariff, given the fact that he suggested China was providing something to Iran in that ship. Although we don’t know any of the facts behind any of this, and this was just in the last week.

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.

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