Pakistan, June 2 -- President Donald Trump insists that the Islamic Republic "really wants to make a deal" with the United States and that any agreement "will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us". He urged critics to "sit back and relax" and complained that political "chirping" from Democrats and some Republicans made it harder for him to do his job. Yet his posts came just hours after U.S. forces struck Iranian drone-and-radar sites and Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. base. Even as he talked of peace, the guns around the Strait of Hormuz - through which a fifth of the world's oil flows - kept blazing.

Fareed Zakaria, CNN host, summed up the contradiction earlier this month: "Does Washin...