The term “TACO” has become popular lately in international diplomacy and military circles. It stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”. Whether on trade tariffs or a military strike on Iran, political analysts have been using the term against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump repeatedly issuing major threats and later backing away from his decisions, according to the piece.
Most recently, Trump threatened a final operation against Iran but withdrew it at the last moment. A tally of how many times he has previously issued such destructive threats against Iran and then retreated is set out below, as recounted in the report. These accounts could not be independently verified.
21 March — Threat to destroy power plants: Trump issued a stern threat to “destroy” all of Iran’s power plants unless it “fully opened” the strategic Strait of Hormuz. But after the set deadline passed, he first extended it by five days and then by another week.
1 April — Warning to “send back to the Stone Age”: When no deal was reached over the Strait of Hormuz, Trump threatened to bomb Iran and “send it back to the Stone Age”. Washington took no immediate military action afterwards. Four days later, he posted sharp criticism of Iran on social media.
7 April — Threat to “destroy a civilisation”, then a ceasefire: Trump announced, “Tonight an entire civilisation will be destroyed.” His comment caused deep concern worldwide, and human rights organisations warned of mass killing of civilians. But the very next day (8 April), a fragile ceasefire was signed between the two countries through Pakistani mediation.
4 May — Military operation announced, then suspended: Trump announced “Operation Project Freedom” to safely move ships stuck in the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. But just two days later, on his Truth Social platform, he said the operation had been temporarily “suspended” to explore the possibility of a settlement.
11 June — From a threat to seize an island to an overnight U-turn: Trump threatened to strike Iran “very hard”, talking of seizing the strategically important Kharg Island and taking “full control” of the entire energy sector. But within hours, citing US talks with Iran’s top leadership, he abruptly made a U-turn.
According to analysts, Trump’s frequent extreme threats and subsequent reversals have sparked intense debate over whether they will diminish the weight of his words on the military stage.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report