'Giving them two weeks': Donald Trump's timeless countdown returns; this time with Iran

US President Donald Trump is expected to decide within the next two weeks whether to launch a military strike on Iran, according to the White House, a familiar timeline Trump has leaned on since his first term in office.

“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” she said in a statement issued through White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday.

Later on Saturday Trump again reiterated his “two-week” timeline: "I'm giving them (Iran) a period of time- and I would say two weeks would be the maximum."

Two-week a similar troupe
Trump has pledged to make announcements or decisions “in two weeks” more than a dozen times over the past two months, according to an NBC News analysis, a pattern that mirrors his tendency during his earlier presidency.

Asked eight weeks ago if he could trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump replied, “I’ll let you know in about two weeks.”

During his first term, Trump frequently invoked the “two weeks” timeline for a range of major promises, from tax reform and health care policy to infrastructure plans and the fight against ISIS. Many of these proposals, including claims related to conspiracy theories and coal mine reopenings, were repeatedly touted as imminent but ultimately failed to materialize.

Trump’s repeated use of the “two weeks” promise has surged in recent weeks, applied to everything from trade negotiations and tariff decisions to the Russia-Ukraine war. Yet, many of these pronouncements have failed to materialize.

The phrase “two weeks” under Trump has become less a literal timeframe and more a rhetorical device, a vague, elastic placeholder that can mean anything or nothing at all, to signal action while delivering delay. In Trump’s lexicon, “two weeks” doesn’t measure time; it simply means “later”.

Will the United States bomb Iran? It’s unclear. Will we get a definitive answer in the next two weeks? That’s just as uncertain.