TEHRAN -- Iranian officials and former senior U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken have described President Donald Trump as increasingly cornered by the consequences of his war against Iran, pointing to mounting domestic political losses, the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz and growing difficulties in securing an exit from the war.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Muhammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Thursday that Trump is steering the United States toward an “Israel-First cliff,” responding to Vice President JD Vance’s acknowledgment that the war and Washington’s relationship with Israel has contributed to the Republican Party’s defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
In a post on X, Ghalibaf said the U.S. president is refusing to abandon a failing course of action while preparing another phase of confrontation.
“Losing gambler energy, can’t walk away from the table,” he wrote. “Boss is prepping the next war phase while America teeters on an Israel-First cliff. Skip the TED talk. Why not say this to your boss?”
Ghalibaf’s remarks followed Vance’s assessment of the Republican losses, in which the vice president identified the war, inflation and dissatisfaction with U.S. support for Israel among the principal reasons former Trump supporters had shifted their votes to Democrats.
Citing polling findings, Vance listed four major concerns among voters: ending the war, addressing the cost-of-living crisis, putting America first and changing Washington’s relationship with Israel.
“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance acknowledged.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei criticized Washington’s approach toward Iran and the wider region, stating that its excessive reliance on falsehoods had undermines its credibility.
In post on X, Baghaei invoked Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, quoting the Russian novelist’s observation that a person who repeatedly lies to himself eventually loses the ability to distinguish

 truth from falsehood and respect himself or others.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered a similar assessment of Trump’s predicament, saying Thursday that the president is searching unsuccessfully for a way out of the conflict.
“He wants to get out of the corner he’s put himself into. He’s been looking for an off-ramp, but he can’t find it,” Blinken said in an interview with Kentucky Democratic Governor Andy Beshear.
Blinken stated that the U.S. administration had underestimated the consequences of attacking Iran, particularly the possibility of disrupting shipping through Hormuz and endangering U.S. military personnel stationed across West Asia.
He described the war as a strategic defeat for Washington and said the administration is caught in an “escalation trap.”
Blinken traced the crisis to Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), describing the decision as catastrophic because it dismantled a diplomatic framework without replacing it with an alternative.
He also identified soaring energy prices, pressure on the U.S. economy and shortages of military munitions as major constraints on Washington’s ability to sustain the war.
Criticizing the administration’s negotiating team, Blinken questioned the appointment of Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Vance, saying that negotiations require experienced specialists familiar with Iran and nuclear issues.
“What was needed were genuine experts who knew Iran, knew nuclear issues,” he said, describing the absence of such expertise as a critical weakness.