WASHINGTON — The White House considered but decided against a national televised address by President Donald Trump on Tuesday about his ceasefire deal with Iran, with some aides and advisers privately voicing concern about potentially overselling the still-nascent agreement, three U.S. officials told Reuters.
The decision suggests a balancing act by the Trump administration, which sought to project early confidence in the deal to pause fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz even as aides recognized its fragility. Discussions about Trump giving a national address have not been previously reported.
Ahead of talks slated to begin on Saturday in Islamabad, analysts say it is far from clear if the ceasefire will translate into a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
The sources said Trump was talked out of making the speech. But the White House, in a statement, denied the discussions rose to Trump’s level, saying, “This is fake news. This was never even discussed with the president.”
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.
Trump ended up announcing the ceasefire in a social media post just hours before a Tuesday evening deadline, after which he had threatened to destroy Iran’s entire civilization.
The reversal was one of the most sudden wartime U-turns by an American president.
Advisers flagged lack of clarity
One of the sources said Trump was “adamant” about delivering the address. The officials said it had been under consideration, but the White House did not move forward with it because details of the ceasefire were still shaky.
Trump’s senior advisers were working through what was in the deal and did not think they had enough clarity for the president to address the nation, the sources said.
The previous week, on April 1, Trump delivered a 19-minute prime-time address to Americans, staunchly defending his handling of the war and outlining plans for aggressive strikes on Iran over the next two to three weeks. Another address would have allowed him to explain the change in course.
One senior White House official acknowledged internal discussions about Trump addressing the nation on Tuesday night.
“There was chatter about it, but obviously it didn’t come to fruition, and we didn’t alert the networks or anything; it didn’t get that far,” the official told Reuters, without confirming Trump was talked out of giving an address.
The ceasefire has halted U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran. But it has not ended the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the biggest-ever disruption to global energy supplies, or calmed a parallel war waged by Israel against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The strait remained shut on Friday and Israel traded fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, two disputes which the U.S. and Iran each described respectively as violations of their ceasefire deal on the eve of their first peace talks of the war.
Trump has vented his frustration, posting that Iran was dishonoring the deal and saying earlier on Friday: “The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!”
Still, the U.S. and Iran are sending high-level negotiators to Islamabad for talks beginning today. The U.S. delegation will be led by Vice President J.D. Vance, who said on Friday the U.S. was willing to negotiate in good faith.
“If they’re going to try to play us, then they’re going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive,” Vance said.
Analysts caution there is little trust between the two sides, and Trump’s warning on Tuesday that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if his demands were not met could have done more harm.
Trump, in his first term, pulled out of a 2018 nuclear deal his predecessor negotiated with Iran, and then in 2025 bombed Iran’s nuclear sites during negotiations. Trump launched the war against Iran on February 28, even as mediator Oman was citing hopes for a negotiated solution.
“So there’s a baked-in lack of trust that is going to confound any diplomacy going forward,” said Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Washington-based Cato Institute think-tank.
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