Will we? That would be a good trade for skipping “Bridge and Power Plant Day,” as Gen. Jack Keane put it on Jesse Watters’ Fox News Channel show last night. As Keane also notes, “the Iranians are experts at obfuscating and delaying deals.” I share his skepticism over the idea that the Iranians have suddenly decided to denuclearize, even when their regime survival depends on it:
🚨 BREAKING: Retired Four Star General Jack Keane SOUNDS THE ALARM on TRUSTING THE IRANIANS in a DEAL 🚨
“They’re LIARS and CHEATS… I DON’T TRUST THEM AT ALL” 💣
“There’s still LOTS OF TARGETS out there… if the deal BLOWS UP, it comes down to KHARG ISLAND” 🔥🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/AwVyXlLuuF
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) April 8, 2026
This morning, Donald Trump insists that the cease-fire includes agreements in principle on “many” of the 15 points Trump demanded in negotiations. First and foremost, Trump claims in a Truth Social post, the US will extract and remove Iran’s highly enriched uranium, the threat that served as the catalyst for the war:
The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change! There will be no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear “Dust.” It is now, and has been, under very exacting Satellite Surveillance (Space Force!). Nothing has been touched from the date of attack. We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran. Many of the 15 points have already been been agreed to. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP
Many of us recall seeing this movie before, and not just Gen. Keane. Iran has spent more than twenty years in nominal negotiations to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons, lying and cheating the entire time. They even cheated on Barack Obama’s “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” (JCPOA) deal, which gave them a clear path to race to nuclear weapons at the end of ten years – now, in fact, which the Iranians almost did regardless. They continue to fund terror proxies, and as we have all seen, built ballistic missile systems with far longer range than they claimed.
So what’s changed now? Did the war and the massive destruction of Iranian defenses really deflect the regime from its path? Axios reports that the answer could be yes, especially given their new circumstances in a world in which American power gets flexed much more confidently. Nepo Babytollah reportedly played a role in the decision to seek a cease-fire, too:
- By Monday night, the mediators had U.S. approval for an updated proposal for a two-week ceasefire. It was then up to Khamenei — whom the sources said was actively involved in the process on Monday and Tuesday — to make a decision.
The intrigue: The involvement of the new supreme leader was necessarily clandestine and laborious. Facing an active threat of assassination by Israel, Khamenei has been communicating primarily via runners passing notes.
- Two sources described Khamenei’s blessing for his negotiators to cut a deal as a “breakthrough.”
- The regional source said Araghchi also played a central role both in handling the negotiations and in pushing commanders from the Revolutionary Guards to accept a deal.
- China was also advising Iran to seek an off-ramp.
- But at the end of the day, all major decisions on Monday and Tuesday went through Khamenei. “Without his green light, there wouldn’t have been a deal,” the regional source said.
The Iranians are still attempting to spin this agreement as a win, or at least as a draw. They are sticking with their ten-point proposal in terms of public relations, which contain absurdities such as American reparations for the war and a grant of sovereignty over the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump blasted CNN for carrying that as the terms under which the cease-fire took place last night (via Power Line’s Scott Johnson, who is as skeptical as Keane):
Trump said that plan was fake. pic.twitter.com/KQcyxwGTI6
— sarainitaly 🌷🌷🌷 (@sarainitaly) April 8, 2026
The Axios report does say that the US side utterly rejected the Iranian plan as a disaster:
On Monday morning, as Trump worked the crowd at a White House Easter celebration, a “very angry” Steve Witkoff was working the phones.
The U.S. envoy told the mediators the 10-point counter-proposal the U.S. had just received from Iran was “a disaster, a catastrophe,” a source with direct knowledge said.
Color me skeptical here, too. I suspect that Trump really wants to end this short of utter destruction and the risks of months-long fighting, for which he probably won’t get approval from Congress anyway. The 60-day limit under the War Powers Act is approaching, and he might be able to argue that the cease-fire ends that cycle and that a violation would restart it with another 60 days of freedom of action. That’s pretty iffy, though, and Trump has serious political risks that increase as the fighting continues.
The news isn’t all dire, though, even for those who looked forward to Bridge and Power Plant Day. Two weeks gives the US and Israel time to resupply and move more assets into the theater, while Iran’s ability to rearm and resupply is catastrophically damaged. We can use the time to track the movements of regime leaders and the assets that Iran moves during this pause, too. Time is mostly on Trump’s side, and he can afford a two-week delay to see whether the regime remnants truly grasp their existential position now, or whether they’re still obfuscating and lying.
The “nuclear dust” will be the real acid test. If the regime makes a play to retrieve it without our cooperation, Bridge and Power Plant Day will be game on again.
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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