President Donald Trump is apparently getting impatient with the Iranian people.
As the war with Iran enters its seventh month, Trump on Tuesday questioned why Iranians haven’t “risen up and fought” their own government, and said he “couldn’t care less” whether Iran agrees to a deal with the United States.
The comments came as Trump touted the pressure being placed on Iran and said he preferred the current situation, with the United States having “almost total control” of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s economy “totally collapsing.”
“I couldn’t care less if they sign an agreement,” Trump said.
But if the administration’s goal is to force Iran into negotiations, that raises a rather obvious question: What exactly is the endgame?
Trump has repeatedly portrayed the war and the crushing economic pressure on Iran as leverage. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the administration intends to “economically asphyxiate Iran” and force Tehran to the bargaining table, predicting that the Iranian economy could collapse within “weeks or months.”
Trump, however, appeared less interested in the bargaining table.
Instead, he turned his attention toward the Iranian people and wondered when they would finally take matters into their own hands.
“When are they going to rise up and fight?” Trump asked.
That puts an extraordinary burden on ordinary Iranians who have already spent months living through war, economic devastation and the consequences of U.S. military strikes and Iranian retaliation.
The United States has launched strikes against Iran, while Iran has retaliated against U.S. military targets and commercial shipping. Iranian missiles and drones have also been directed toward locations including Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq.
And now Trump appears to be publicly asking the people living through that war why they haven’t overthrown their own government yet.
It’s a remarkable demand to make from thousands of miles away.
The Trump administration has spent months escalating pressure on Tehran, threatening additional sanctions and arguing that economic pain will force Iran’s leaders to give in.
Yet Trump now says he doesn’t care whether Iran reaches an agreement.
Instead, he seems to want something far more dramatic: for the Iranian people themselves to “rise up and fight” their government.
After nearly seven months of war, Trump isn’t just demanding that Iran surrender.
He’s wondering why Iranians haven’t done the overthrowing for him.
