{"id":13105,"date":"2026-05-23T20:19:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/23\/united-states-of-the-middle-east-trump-posts-us-flag-covering-iran-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T20:19:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:19:41","slug":"united-states-of-the-middle-east-trump-posts-us-flag-covering-iran-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/23\/united-states-of-the-middle-east-trump-posts-us-flag-covering-iran-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018United States of the Middle East?\u2019: Trump posts US flag covering Iran &#8211; Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Latest Truth Social post comes amid \u2018delicate diplomacy\u2019, expert says, as US and Iran indicate progress in talks.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p><strong>Washington, DC \u2013<\/strong> President Donald Trump has posted a photo of the United States flag covering the map of Iran, with the question: \u201cUnited States of the Middle East?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post on Truth Social on Saturday represented another potentially incendiary message from Trump amid ongoing negotiations for a more lasting ceasefire in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/liveblog\/2026\/5\/23\/iran-war-live-tehran-says-diplomacy-continues-but-no-deal-yet-with-us\">US-Israeli war with Iran<\/a>, experts said.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/23\/iran-war-day-85-tehran-says-major-gaps-remain-in-us-talks\">Iran war day 85: Tehran says major gaps remain in US talks<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/18\/what-is-the-uaes-barakah-nuclear-plant-nearly-hit-by-a-drone\">What is the UAE\u2019s Barakah nuclear plant, nearly hit by a drone?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/21\/trump-shifts-between-diplomacy-and-threats-in-iran-standoff\">Trump shifts between diplomacy and threats in Iran standoff<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>It carries the potential to roil both regional allies and foes alike given Washington\u2019s past intervention in the Middle East, most notably during the US invasion of Iraq from 2003 to 2011, as well as the Trump administration\u2019s push to increase its influence abroad.<\/p>\n<p>The sentiment also appears to run counter to the Trump administration\u2019s repeated statements that it is not seeking a prolonged occupation of Iran. The US has maintained it is not seeking outright regime change in its war, which it launched alongside Israel on February 28, but that it would welcome such change as a byproduct of the military campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Even for a president known for outlandish social media posts and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/21\/trump-shifts-between-diplomacy-and-threats-in-iran-standoff\">conflicting messaging<\/a> on the war, the post could have implications for ongoing negotiations aimed at a more lasting ceasefire, according to Vali Nasr, professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to Trump\u2019s threat in early April that an \u201centire civilisation will die\u201d if Iran did not agree to a deal at the time. Hours later, both sides agreed to a pause in fighting.<\/p>\n<p>That pause has held since, save for a handful of flare-ups, with the US continuing to blockade Iranian ports and Tehran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst he declared he wanted to eradicate Iran\u2019s civilisation now he is declaring that he wants to turn Iran into an American property,\u201d Nasr wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is this kind of grotesque behaviour that undermines diplomacy and unites Iranians in defence of their country,\u201d he added. \u201cIn the middle of delicate diplomacy he casts doubts on America\u2019s true intentions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"fragile-negotiations-continue\">Fragile negotiations continue<\/h2>\n<p>On Saturday, both US and Iranian officials <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/23\/iran-weighs-us-peace-proposal-despite-deep-and-significant-disagreements\">indicated<\/a> a new deal may be within reach.<\/p>\n<p>Trump told CBS News both sides were \u201cgetting a lot closer\u201d. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said an update could be coming shortly, the broadcaster reported.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the two sides were \u201ccurrently working to finalise\u201d a memorandum of understanding, and that \u201cthe opinions have been converging\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Still, there have been no official announcements related to key sticking points in the standoff, including the future of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, the fate of its highly enriched uranium stockpile, and its future influence over the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>Trump regularly uses his Truth Social account, which he launched after being briefly banned from Twitter, now X, in the wake of the 2020 election, to make major announcements, attack political enemies, and post AI-generated images and videos.<\/p>\n<p>The foreign policy of his second term has been defined by efforts to grow US influence abroad, particularly in the Americas. That has included the military abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, continued <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/22\/us-raises-threat-of-military-action-against-cuba\">threats<\/a> against Cuba, and vows to take control of Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory in the North Atlantic.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration has adopted the term the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/4\/what-is-the-monroe-doctrine-which-trump-has-cited-over-venezuela\">Donroe Doctrine<\/a>, a reference to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which sought to diminish European influence in the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Trump also posted an image of his face peering over a mountain range in Greenland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHello, Greenland!\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Latest Truth Social post comes amid \u2018delicate diplomacy\u2019, expert says, as US and Iran indicate progress in talks. Washington, DC \u2013 President Donald Trump has posted a photo of the United States flag covering the map of Iran, with the question: \u201cUnited States of the Middle East?\u201d The post on Truth Social on Saturday represented [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}