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President Donald Trump acknowledged peacemaking with Iran is made difficult because their "sinister, sick" replacement leaders are hiding.
"One of the problems they do have when they deal with us is we deal with people and the people aren't able to communicate with anybody else, because all of their leadership has been gone," Trump said at the start of his second Cabinet meeting of 2026 on Thursday.
"The first level is gone. And they met to pick a new level, and they're gone. They're all gone because they didn't make a deal.
"And because they're sick people, they're really sick. They're they're really sinister, sick people."
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President Donald Trump pulled no punches at his second Cabinet meeting of 2026. (Jim Watson/AFP)
Regardless of the struggle to find a diplomatic off-ramp, Trump is pleased with the progress on the "military operation" against Iran, saying the conflict may end after four to six weeks of fighting.
"We estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission, and we're way ahead of schedule," Trump said. "If you look at what we've done in terms of the destruction of that country, I mean, we're way ahead."
Trump noted, "26 days in," Iran is begging to make a deal — albeit without a defined leader or leadership structure to even do it.
"The Iranian regime is now admitting to itself that they have been decisively defeated," Trump added. "They're saying to people, this is a disaster. They know it. That's why they're talking to us.
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"They wouldn't talk otherwise, but they're talking to us because they've got a disaster in their hands. They're defeated. They can't make a comeback. We're free to roam over their cities and towns and destroy all of their crazy nuclear weapons and missiles and drones that they're building."
Some hiding voices in Iran are telling leftist media that they are "not negotiating; we will not negotiate."
"Of course they're negotiating," Trump shot back at media reports he often rebukes as "fake news." "They've been obliterated. Who wouldn't negotiate? They are begging to make a deal. We'll see if we can make the right deal."
Trump did pay Iran a backhanded compliment for its propaganda, however.
A timelapse video shows marine traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz. (Kpler/Marine Traffic)
"I say they're lousy fighters, but they're great negotiators, and they are begging to work out a deal. I don't know if we'll be able to do that. I don't know if we're willing to do that. They should have done that four weeks ago."
While the choke point of the Strait of Hormuz remains an issue — despite the removal of the Iranian military commander that had ordered it closed to the U.S. and its allies — Trump is "very disappointed" NATO allies are only now vowing to stand with the U.S., saying "NATO has done absolutely nothing."
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"I said 25 years ago that NATO's a paper tiger, but more importantly, that we'll come to their rescue, but they will never come to ours," Trump said. "And I want you to remember that we said this: They didn't come to our rescue.
"Now they all want to help when the other side is annihilated. They said, 'We'd love to send ships.' They actually made a statement, a couple of them, that 'we want to get involved when the war is over.'
"You know, it's supposed to get involved with the war's beginning or even before it begins."
Ultimately, Trump warned, NATO failed a "test," something that might loom down the road when peace negotiations in Ukraine and potential aspirations for Greenland resurface after Iran is off the top of Trump's foreign policy agenda.
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"Nobody's a match for the United States," Trump said, noting Iran's heavy losses showing "they're not a match for the United States. It's small potatoes.
"That's why I'm so disappointed in NATO, because this was a test for NATO. This was a test. You can help us. You don't have to, but if you don't do that, we're going to remember."
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"Just remember, remember this a number of months from now," he continued. "Remember my statements. They have an expression, a great expression: Never forget. It can never forget."
Eric Mack is a writer for Fox News Digital covering breaking news.
