The regime agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz as part of a recently released “memorandum of understanding” with the White House. Then they reneged. Agreed again. Reneged again. The excuses change, but the pattern is clear — Iran’s word means nothing.

The latest manipulation involves ordering terror proxy Hezbollah to attack Israel from Lebanon, then pointing to Israel’s inevitable response as justification to back out of the deal. The regime claims Israel violated the agreement by defending itself. It’s transparent game-playing designed to exploit the framework Trump signed.

“The very first bullet point of the MOU declares that the U.S. and Iran each assent to an ‘immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.’ This includes each parties’ ‘allies in the current war,’ a phrase that cuts in both directions, and very much includes Hezbollah on Iran’s side.”

Here’s the thing — the mullahs are negotiating from a position of total weakness. Trump’s second-term military campaign has reduced Iran’s major nuclear facilities to rubble. Top nuclear scientists liquidated. A wide swath of regime leaders gone, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The missile stockpile is gutted. Capacity to produce new missiles, decimated. The navy is sunk. Iran’s ability to defend its own airspace has been reduced to virtually zero. Its economy — already disastrous enough to inspire mass protests in the streets of Tehran — is in complete shambles.

The regime is a shadow of what it was when Trump took office. Those are game-changing victories no other president even attempted, let alone delivered. And Iran knows it.

That’s exactly why this latest cheating is so revealing. A regime that won’t operate in good faith on its bare-minimum obligation — opening the strait, even when it’s in their own interest — has just handed Trump the perfect leverage. Hezbollah’s attacks from Lebanon are an explicit violation of the MOU’s very first provision. Iran has given the President a tailor-made justification to dictate terms instead of negotiate them.

Patriots already know how this ends. Trump doesn’t take bad deals. He didn’t with Kim Jong-un. He didn’t with China. He won’t here. The mullahs are about to learn — again — that testing this president comes with consequences they cannot survive.

Trump’s statement on Truth Social came amid reports that Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a renewed ceasefire brokered by U.S. and Qatari negotiators. The ceasefire takes effect immediately after the strikes, according to Reuters.

“IRAN IS FINISHED”

Trump’s first posts since the strikes did not mention Israel or Lebanon directly. Instead, he framed the confrontation with Iran as a victory.

The Strait of Hormuz — a critical chokepoint for global oil shipments — has been closed multiple times during escalating Middle East tensions. Iran’s latest closure comes as Israeli military operations target Iranian-backed forces in Lebanon.

The reported ceasefire deal represents a significant diplomatic development. U.S. and Qatari negotiators brokered the agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, with the truce set to begin right after Israel’s strikes conclude.

Trump’s declaration signals his administration’s stance that Iran’s influence in the region is collapsing under pressure from Israeli military action and U.S.-backed diplomacy.