Trump Floats "Joint Venture" With Iran After Manufactured Crisis Nearly Sparked Full-Scale War

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he's considering a "joint venture" with Iran to manage the Strait of Hormuz -- the same strategic waterway he threatened to destroy Iran over just 24 hours earlier.

"We're thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It's a way of securing it -- also securing it from lots of other people," Trump told ABC News. "It's a beautiful thing."

The comment came one day after Trump pulled back from his own deadline threatening "devastating strikes" on Iranian infrastructure unless Tehran fully reopened the strait. Instead, the administration announced a two-week ceasefire that includes Iran's agreement to allow "safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz via coordination with Iran's Armed Forces."

From War Threats to Business Deals in 24 Hours

The whiplash pivot is classic Trump: create a crisis through aggressive posturing, threaten military action, then declare victory and pivot to dealmaking. The Strait of Hormuz crisis followed weeks of escalating tensions that began with massive U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian military and government sites on February 28, which Trump labeled "major combat operations."

Those strikes came after Trump withdrew from diplomatic agreements and reimposed crippling sanctions -- the same playbook that destabilized the region during his first term. Now, after pushing Iran to the brink and killing Iranian leaders in what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called a "decisive military victory," Trump wants to partner with the regime he just bombed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed the ceasefire terms but notably emphasized "technical limitations" on passage through the strait -- language that suggests Iran hasn't surrendered control, despite Hegseth's triumphalist claims.

Hegseth Claims Total Victory, Reality More Complicated

At a Pentagon briefing Wednesday, Hegseth declared that "Iran begged for this ceasefire" and claimed the U.S. "achieved every single objective on plan, on schedule."

"This new regime is out of options and out of time, so they cut a deal," Hegseth said. "We control their fate, not the other way around."

Hegseth listed Iranian leaders killed and facilities destroyed, claiming Iran "can no longer build missiles, build rockets, build launchers or build UAVs. Their factories have been razed to the ground."

But if Iran is truly defeated and "out of options," why is Trump now proposing a joint business venture instead of simply dictating terms? And why are American forces staying in the region indefinitely to "enforce any future agreement," as Trump confirmed?

The reality appears more complex than Hegseth's victory lap suggests. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian "reaffirmed Iran's participation in the upcoming negotiations" scheduled for Friday in Islamabad -- hardly the posture of a regime that has "begged" for terms.

No Enrichment, Permanent Occupation, and China's Role

Trump also laid down maximalist demands that contradict Iran's stated red lines. "There won't be any enrichment," Trump said when asked about Iran's uranium program, despite Tehran's repeated insistence it will not surrender its nuclear capabilities.

The president confirmed that American forces will remain in the region permanently, not as peacekeepers but as enforcers. "They would remain in place to enforce any future agreement," Trump said -- a recipe for indefinite military occupation.

Trump also acknowledged that China "played a key role in dealing with the Iranians," raising questions about what concessions the administration made to Beijing to secure its involvement. Given Trump's transactional approach to foreign policy, it's unlikely China brokered a ceasefire out of goodwill.

A Pattern of Manufactured Crises

This entire sequence -- from escalation to brinkmanship to sudden deals -- follows a familiar Trump pattern. He withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in his first term, reimposed sanctions, and pushed the region toward war. Now he's done it again, launching "major combat operations," threatening total destruction, then pivoting to business proposals.

The human cost of this manufactured crisis remains unclear. The Pentagon has not disclosed casualty figures from the February strikes or subsequent operations. Iranian officials have not released comprehensive death tolls. What's certain is that Trump created a war, threatened to expand it catastrophically, then claimed credit for stopping short of his own worst threats.

Peace talks are scheduled to begin Friday. Trump says he expects them to "move very quickly." Given his track record of abandoning agreements and restarting conflicts, there's little reason to believe any deal will hold -- or that this "joint venture" is anything more than another branding opportunity in a region Trump has spent years destabilizing.

The Strait of Hormuz is open again, at least for now. But the crisis that nearly sparked a full-scale war was entirely of Trump's making, and his "beautiful" solution looks suspiciously like the problem he created.