<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/donald-trump" rel="" target="" title="Donald Trump"><span>Donald Trump</span></a><span> says the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="United States"><span>United States</span></a><span> is winning the war with </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/iran" rel="" target="" title="Iran"><span>Iran</span></a><span> even as thousands of additional American troops deploy to the Middle East.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He has pilloried other countries for not helping the US, only to say later he does not need their assistance. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He has twice delayed deadlines for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He has both threatened to "obliterate" Iran's energy plants if the vital waterway remains largely shuttered and said the US was "not affected" by the closure.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/middle-east-latest-updates-iran-nuclear-facility-struck-by-israel-usa-world-news/ce5d0b47-d82e-4b33-888f-bc1aa7248061"><strong><span>Iran vows to 'exact heavy price' after Israel strikes nuclear sites</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At one point this month, Trump said one of his predecessors – who, he strongly suggested, was a Democrat – privately told him he wished he had taken similar action against Iran. Representatives for every living former president quickly denied that such a conversation happened.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As the war entered its second month on Saturday, Trump's penchant for embellishments, exaggerations and falsehoods is being tested in an environment where the stakes are much higher than an isolated political fight.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A president who has long embraced bluster and salesmanship to shape narratives and focus attention is confronting the unpredictability of war.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/us-israel-iran-war-donald-trump-conflicting-messages-sow-confusion-over-the-iran-war/6f2ee4d1-eac3-444c-9cd3-dfe0e414c09c" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Leon Panetta, who served Democratic presidents as defence secretary, CIA director and White House chief of staff, said he has "seen enough wars where truth becomes the first casualty."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's not the first administration that has not told the truth about war," he said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But the president has made it kind of a very standard approach to almost any question to in one way or another kind of lie about what's really happening and basically describe everything as fine and that we're winning the war."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Michael Rubin, a historian at the American Enterprise Institute who worked as a staff adviser on Iran and Iraq at the Pentagon from 2002 to 2004, said Trump is "the first president of any party in recent history that hasn't self-constrained to live within rhetorical boundaries."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So of course it creates a great deal of confusion," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>The zigs and zags are the point</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>To his critics, Trump's style is a sign that doesn't have a coherent long-term strategy. But for Trump, the zigs and zags seem like the point, a method that keeps his opponents — and pretty much everyone else — always on their heels.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The approach was clear this week in the hours before he announced the second delay of the deadline for Iran to reopen the strait. Asked what he would do about the deadline, Trump said he did not know and that he had a day before he had to decide.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In Trump time, a day, you know what it is, that's an eternity," the Republican president said to laughter from members of his Cabinet.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But investors are unimpressed, with US stocks closing out their worst week since the war began. To some on Capitol Hill, the freewheeling is more frustrating than amusing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, lamented that Trump is "going back and forth and constantly contradicting himself."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The administration is winging it," he said. "So how can you trust what the president says?"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Republicans were not willing to go that far, but their concern was apparent heading into a two-week break from Washington. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said his constituents "support what the president has done."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But most of my people are also equally or even more so concerned about cost of living," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who sits on the House Budget Committee and is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said his constituents were on board with "blowing some crap up." Nonetheless, he expressed reservations about the prospect of ground troops and said the administration has not provided enough details in briefings for lawmakers. Such sessions, he said, only reveal information you "read in the papers."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Taking out bad guys, taking out conventional (weapons), taking out or at least working to take out nuclear capability, pressing to keep the straits open, all those are good things and I've been supportive and will continue to be supportive," Roy said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But we've got to have a serious conversation about how long this is going to go, boots on the ground, all those things, press for further briefings and understanding of where it's all headed."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Republicans back Trump but there are risks</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While Trump has maintained deep support among Republicans, a poll this week from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that the president risks frustrating his voters if the US gets involved in the kind of prolonged war in the Middle East that he promised to avoid.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Although 63 per cent of Republicans back airstrikes against Iranian military targets, the survey found, only 20 per cent back deploying American ground troops.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That reflects the political challenges ahead for Trump, who did not prepare the country for such an extensive overseas conflict. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>If the war drags on or escalates, pressure on Republicans could build before the November elections, when their majorities in Congress are at risk. Some in the party have said sending in ground troops would be a red line that Trump should not cross.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The administration also will likely need congressional support for an additional $200 billion to support the war. That amount of money, which Trump has said would be "nice to have," even as he said the war was "winding down," would be a tough vote at any time. But it poses particular risks for budget-conscious Republicans in an election year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement that Trump is "right to highlight the vast success of Operation Epic Fury".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Iran desperately wants to make a deal because of how badly they are being decimated, but the President reserves all options, military or not, at all times," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>There could be some 'logic' to Trump's approach</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Rubin, the former Iran and Iraq adviser at the Pentagon, said there could be some "logic" to the president's ever-evolving rhetorical approach to the war. He said Trump's initial comments about ongoing negotiations, which Iran denied, could "spread suspicion and fear within the regime circles".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Perhaps Donald Trump or those advising him simply want the Iranians to grow so paranoid they refuse to cooperate with each other or perhaps they even turn on each other," he said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But then again, there's always a danger with Donald Trump of assuming that his rhetoric is anything more than shooting from the hip."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said Trump is not going to be able to fully achieve his objectives, including the complete elimination of Iran's nuclear program, "in the current trajectory."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And if that is the case, Smith said, the president has the option to rely on his rhetorical skills to simply say the US won — and end the war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"As I've jokingly said, nobody I have ever met or heard of in human history is better at exaggerating his own accomplishments than Donald Trump," Smith said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So go knock yourself out and claim this was some great success."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><em><span>NEVER MISS A STORY:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><span>Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><strong><em><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>ticking this box here</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Sign up to</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></em></strong></a></li></ul></div></div>