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'They smell panic': Ex-insider baffled as Trump's war negotiation strategy backfires
April 19, 2026
AI Analysis: Name Calling
Posted 4 hours ago by
A former Trump administration official was baffled on Sunday as President Donald Trump's strategy to end the war in Iran backfired. Last week, Trump dispatched Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan to negotiate an end to the war, but Vance returned to the U.S. empty-handed. John Bolton, Trump's national security advisor during his first administration, said on CNN's CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield that this strategy has given the Iranians enormous leverage in the negotiations, and that Trump may be making it worse by sending more high-level officials next week.
You shouldn't send the Vice President, Bolton said. He's one level below the President. We don't know that the people the Iranians are sending have any authority to commit their government to begin with. If we were going to send a high-level official, it should have been the Secretary of State, not the Vice President, and not civilian volunteers, such as Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Bolton added that Trump's deployment of high-level officials signals to the Iranians that he wants to find a way out of the conflict. I think they smell panic in the White House, he said. I think they can see Trump wants out of this. He's just he's broadcasting it almost every day. And it gives the Iranians enormous leverage.
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Technique: Name Calling
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