The US and Iran have “major points of agreement,” he said from the tarmac before his departure.
“They want very much to make a deal,” he said. “We’d like to make a deal, too.”
A few hours later, speaking to gathered US National Guard personnel in Memphis, he said the US was having “very, very good discussions” with Iran.
“Iran has one more opportunity to end its threats to America and our allies,” he said. “We hope they take it.”
Then Trump headed to Graceland, Memphis’s most famous tourist attraction, to tout a drop in the city’s crime rate, which he attributed to his deployment of National Guard soldiers to its streets.
As Trump walked through Elvis’s home, observing the fashion and design tastes of the “king of rock’n’roll”, reports continued to filter in of a presidential phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and potential direct talks with Iranian officials later in the week.
Diplomatic wheels, it seemed, were in motion, even as the lack of detail left many around the world with suspicious minds, as Elvis once crooned.
Iranian state media, citing Trump’s Truth Social post as evidence, claimed the president backed down in the face of threats. Iranian officials denied any substantive talks between the two nations. While the president spoke of “15 points of agreement”, he declined to provide much in the way of specifics.
Even the prospect of talks was enough to send the US stock market surging and global oil prices dropping, however. What had been shaping up as a day of heartbreak for major world economies now had a glimmer of hope for investors eager to see an off-ramp to this conflict.
Trump is back in Washington, where a new five-day countdown to US attacks on Iranian power infrastructure will begin.
After fits, starts and a pilgrimage to the home of a deceased rock legend, Trump may have provided the first indication of a real breakthrough.
Or it could be just the latest instance of this president realising that the ultimatum he delivered put him in a tight spot, forcing a move to buy himself more time.
During his tour of Graceland, Trump said that he was a big Elvis fan and that Hurt was his favourite song.
Given the current circumstances, however, It’s Now or Never may have been a more appropriate choice.