LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President Trump is talking about the war with Iran in the past tense.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo noted the president's word choice in an interview with Trump that aired Wednesday.
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MARIA BARTIROMO: Well, you keep saying was. Is this war over?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think it's close to over, yeah. I mean, I view it as very close to over. You know what? If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we're not finished. We'll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.
MARTÍNEZ: Trump has been using variations of that line for weeks now. In a few moments, Senator Tim Kaine joins us to discuss how Congress sees those shifting timelines. First, let's take a closer look at the rhetoric coming out of the White House.
FADEL: With the latest, we're joined by NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith. Hey, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: OK. So there were peace talks over the weekend in Pakistan that stalled out, that went nowhere. So how is it that the president says the war is very close to over?
KEITH: I mean, the president has been making bold claims about the war being nearly over since just a couple of weeks after it started.
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TRUMP: Won't be much longer. It's moving along fast. We're way ahead of schedule. Did you know that?
You know, I don't like to say this. We've won this. This war has been won.
Won't be long. Going to end soon. We had to take a little detour.
We won, OK? They are militarily defeated.
KEITH: So that was Trump on March 17, March 24, March 26 and April 6. And those attempted declarations of victory are as clear a sign as any that the president wants this war to end. There were reports that the administration had requested an extension of the ceasefire. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt, using very precise language, said Wednesday that was not true, quote, "at this moment." She also said that while there were discussions about resuming in-person talks, nothing is official until the White House announces it, which they haven't yet.
FADEL: I mean, listening to the president, he's constantly moving the goalposts on this war. Can he just keep making promises, backing out, making more promises?
KEITH: Trump does this all the time, using vague language that makes him and his objectives hard to pin down. I called up Tevi Troy, a presidential historian who served in the George W. Bush administration. And he said wars evolve, and U.S. presidents have often found themselves having to explain to the American people why the mission has changed. He says Trump's style gives him wiggle room that others haven't enjoyed, but that only goes so far.
TEVI TROY: He can say different things at different times to highlight what he's trying to accomplish at that time. But the end of the day, the things that are important are, will gas prices go down? Will the Iranians have access to a nuclear weapon? Will they change their behavior so that future American presidents don't have to deal with this?
KEITH: And the most politically significant metric there are the gas prices.
FADEL: Right. I mean, no one likes paying $4 a gallon for gas. And that's much higher in parts of the country as well. What does the administration have to say?
KEITH: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent came to the White House press briefing yesterday to talk about tax cuts. But he got a whole lot of questions about the war and ultimately said this about gas prices.
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SCOTT BESSENT: I'm optimistic that sometime between June 20 and September 20 that we can have $3 a gas again.
KEITH: Trump campaigned on $2 a gallon gas, and congressional Republicans could bear the brunt of voter frustration in the midterms this fall. But Senate Republicans voted down a war powers resolution again yesterday, remaining hands off of Trump's war. The economic pressure really explains the urgency from the president to get this over with one way or another.
FADEL: NPR's Tamara Keith. Thank you for the reporting, Tam.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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