TOI correspondent from Washington: Increasingly seen as an agent of chaos even by his own base, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he expects to achieve “a great deal” with Iran after a second round of talks in Pakistan on Wednesday while at the same time saying he also “expects“ to return to bombing if the mission does not succeed. There was continued suspense as of Tuesday noon on whether vice president JD Vance had even left for Islamabad or whether he would go at all given the wide gap in expectations between the two sides.
In a series of often contradictory remarks in more than half dozen interviews over the past 48 hours, the latest one a phone-in with CNBC, Trump blew hot and cold, sometimes lambasting Iran and sometimes praising it, as he sought to alternately bully and cajole Tehran into turning up in Islamabad to cut a deal.
