What did Donald Trump do today?
He said Iran had surrendered (it hasn't) and then said he'd attack it anyway.
This morning, Trump said in a post to his private social media website that Iran had "apologized and surrendered." [Note: links to Trump posts on this page always go to a mirror site, not Trump's actual site.]
This is a monumental lie, even by Trump standards. It simply has not.
Its "surrender" notwithstanding, Iran carried out more counterattacks today, including missile and drone launches against the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia.
What Iran's president did say was that Iran's enemies "must take their dream of the Iranian people’s unconditional surrender to their graves."
There is a real possibility that Trump, in whatever state of mind he was in at 6:11 AM, genuinely believed that what he had said was true, and that likewise he had just received messages of thanks and congratulations from unnamed Middle Eastern countries. But he went onto say that Iran would be "hit very hard" in spite of that "surrender," and that "areas and groups of people" not previously targeted would suffer "complete destruction and certain death."
Again, to be clear, Trump is saying that he believes Iran has surrendered and that he is going to bring "complete destruction and certain death" to its people anyway.
This is not even the first time in the last year that Trump has declared, or imagined, Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!" He posted this on June 17, 2025:
It wasn't true then either. Six days later, Trump was in the bizarre position of thanking Iran for limiting its counterattack.
Why does this matter?
- The kindest possible interpretation of this is that Trump is suffering profound cognitive issues that make him completely unsuitable for office, or even to manage his own affairs.
- Someone this out of touch with reality—or at least unconcerned with it—is a genuine danger to Americans' safety and well-being.