🧾 Guess How Many Times Trump Has Said His Illegal War With Iran Is Almost Over? 38. 38 Times He Has Told This Lie.
The war was supposed to last days. Then weeks. Then a month. Now it is in its fourth month, and Trump is still selling the same fake ending.
Donald Trump said the war with Iran was almost over.
Then he said it again.
Then again.
Then again.
According to CNN’s Aaron Blake, Trump has now claimed at least 38 times that a deal with Iran was near, that Iran was desperate to make one, or that the war was about to end. CNN’s count includes social media posts, public remarks, and phone calls with reporters.
Thirty-eight times.
At some point, this is not optimism. It is not strategy. It is not negotiation. It is not confidence. It is not the famous Trump “art of the deal.”
It is a lie repeated so many times that the repetition itself becomes the scandal.
Family, this is why independent journalism matters. Mainstream media often treats Trump’s lies as if they are weather events, something that just rolls in and rolls out. But when a president lies over and over again about a war he helped start, people die under those lies. Families pay for those lies. Soldiers risk their lives under those lies. If you believe The North Star needs to keep telling the truth plainly, click here to become a member.
The war against Iran began on February 28. Reuters reported that U.S. and Israeli forces began bombing Iran that day, and that the conflict had stretched into a three-month-long war by early June. Reuters also reported that both the House and Senate have backed war powers efforts aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to continue hostilities, reflecting growing concern even inside his own party.
This was not supposed to happen.
This war was supposed to be quick. A few days. Then a few weeks. Then maybe a month. Then maybe a little longer. And now here we are, in the fourth month of a war Trump keeps claiming is basically over, while the region keeps burning and the American people keep being asked to trust a man whose timeline has failed again and again and again.
Thirty-eight times is not a mistake.
Once can be a mistake.
Twice can be bad information.
Three or four times can be arrogance.
Thirty-eight times is a method.
According to CNN’s analysis, the pattern began on March 23, less than a month into the war, when Trump started suggesting major progress was being made toward peace. CNN reported that by March 25, Trump was saying Iran wanted a deal badly, and by March 26, he was claiming Iran was begging for one.
Think about that.
If Iran was begging for a deal in March, why is the war still going in June?
If the deal was almost done in April, why are we still waiting in the fourth month?
If the final issues were being settled in May, why is Trump still promising the same imaginary breakthrough in June?
That is the problem with lying in public for this long. Eventually, the calendar itself becomes a fact-check.
CNN’s timeline is brutal because it shows the repetition. Trump did not merely make one bad prediction. He made the same prediction over and over, then kept making it after it failed. On April 7, he announced a ceasefire and suggested the agreement needed two weeks to be finalized. It was not finalized. On April 15, according to CNN, he said the war was very close to being over. It was not over. On April 17, he made several more sweeping claims about how close the deal was. No deal came. On April 20, he again suggested things would happen quickly. They did not.
Then came May.
Still no deal.
Still no end.
Still Trump.
According to CNN, Trump acknowledged on May 18 that previous moments when a deal looked close had fallen apart, but then insisted the latest moment was different. It was not different. The next day, he said the war would end quickly. It did not. By May 23, he was again saying the administration was getting closer, that a deal was largely negotiated, and that an announcement would come soon. It did not.
This is where the whole thing becomes deranged.
Not because diplomacy is easy. It is not. Not because negotiations never shift. They do. Not because presidents can never be wrong. They can.
But because Trump is not simply updating the public as facts change. He is selling the same false ending over and over again, regardless of how many times reality humiliates him.
The war keeps going.
The deal keeps not arriving.
Trump keeps saying it is almost here.
And his followers keep believing him.
How?
How does this man have an ounce of credibility left with his own supporters?
If Barack Obama had promised 38 times that a war was ending, only for it to keep expanding, the right would never stop talking about it. If Joe Biden had said 38 times that a peace deal was right around the corner, only for missiles to keep flying, Fox News would have built an entire month of programming around it. If any Democrat had helped start a war in February, promised it would be over almost immediately, then dragged the country into June while insisting a breakthrough was always two or three days away, Trump supporters would call him a liar, a fraud, and a danger to the republic.
And they would be right.
But because it is Trump, his followers keep adjusting reality around him.
If the deal does not happen, it is because Iran is difficult.
If the war continues, it is because Trump is being tough.
If gas prices rise, it is somebody else’s fault.
If Congress pushes back, they are traitors.
If the ceasefire collapses, Trump never really promised peace.
If Trump says the same false thing for the 38th time, they call it leadership.
No. It is not leadership. It is deception with better branding.
Reuters reported that the United States and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect negotiations for an interim deal, but that no agreement has been reached while the two sides have continued to periodically exchange fire. Reuters also reported that the war has driven up oil prices and disrupted supply chains, including humanitarian aid.
That is the reality beneath Trump’s speeches.
The war is not over.
The deal is not done.
The costs are not theoretical.
And the violence is not rhetorical.
Reuters reported that Trump’s Middle East ceasefires have failed to stop violence in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes have continued. In Lebanon, Israeli strikes have continued. In the U.S.-Iran conflict, the sides have continued to exchange fire even after a ceasefire was announced.
That same Reuters analysis quoted Trump describing Middle East ceasefires as involving “shooting in a more moderate manner” rather than a total halt in fighting.
Read that again.
Not peace.
Not justice.
Not diplomacy.
Not an end to the killing.
“Shooting in a more moderate manner.”
That is the moral emptiness of this whole thing. Trump wants credit for peace while the shooting continues. He wants credit for ending a war while the war enters its fourth month. He wants credit for a deal that does not exist. He wants the applause before the achievement, the victory lap before the victory, the Nobel Prize fantasy before the blood is even dry.
And his followers keep giving it to him.
This is not normal.
A president saying a war-ending deal is close 38 times without producing the deal should be treated as a major credibility crisis. It should dominate every interview with him. Every Republican who supports him should be asked whether they believe the 39th claim. Every member of Congress should be asked whether they are comfortable letting a president continue hostilities when his public statements about the war have been this wildly unreliable.
Because this is not a reality show. This is not one of Trump’s failed casinos. This is not a campaign rally where he can ramble for two hours and lie about crowd sizes.
This is war.
And war is where lies become corpses.
One of the things Islam teaches, and something I want my non-Muslim readers to understand, is that truth is not optional just because power is involved. The Qur’an commands believers to stand firmly for justice, even when that witness is against themselves or their own people. You can read that teaching in Qur’an 4:135. That is a hard command. It means truth cannot be bent to protect your tribe, your party, your president, or your preferred strongman.
That is exactly what this moment requires.
If Trump lied, say he lied.
If Trump was wrong, say he was wrong.
If Trump has no idea how to end the war he helped start, say that too.
But do not let him keep selling the public the same fake ending every few days while real people live and die in the war he keeps pretending is almost over.
Reuters reported that only 36% of Americans approved of U.S. strikes on Iran in recent polling, and only 25% said the benefits had been worth the costs. That is not a mandate. That is not national unity. That is a warning sign.
And yet Trump keeps trying to govern through performance.
He performs strength.
He performs diplomacy.
He performs control.
He performs peace.
But the actual record tells a different story: the war began February 28, the deal has not arrived, the ceasefires are unstable, the region remains on edge, and Trump has now told some version of the same false story at least 38 times.
Enough.
Thirty-eight times is not a communications problem.
It is not a misunderstanding.
It is not the fog of diplomacy.
It is a president repeatedly telling the American people that the end is near when the end is not here.
The people who still believe him should ask themselves a simple question: If a man can be wrong 38 times about war and peace, what would it take for you to admit he is lying?
Because the rest of us do not have to keep pretending.
Donald Trump said the Iran war was almost over.
Thirty-eight times later, the war is still here.
And so is the lie.
This is why The North Star exists. We are not here to normalize propaganda because it comes from a podium. We are not here to confuse repeated deception with political strategy. We are here to tell the truth plainly, especially when powerful people keep lying about matters of life and death.
If you believe independent journalism like this needs to exist, click here to join The North Star as a monthly, annual, or founding member.
Love and appreciate each of you.
Your friend and brother,
Shaun
I don't know how a single person in the world respects this man
No one expects the truth from him. Thank you for your article. It helped me feel alive again!
Kathleen Reed