Jon Karl Digs Into Sun Tzu To Wrap His Brain Around Trump’s Iran Strategy

ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl referenced Sun Tzu and ‘The Art of War’ as he struggled on Sunday to piece together a cohesive strategy from President Donald Trump’s statements regarding his potential next moves in Iran.

Karl, on Sunday’s broadcast of “This Week,” presented a number of seemingly-conflicting statements and movements, saying that at times it was impossible to tell whether the Trump administration was planning to bring Operation Epic Fury to an end or further escalate the military action against the Iranian regime.

WATCH:

“Listening to President Trump’s words at any given moment, it sounds like the war is about to end — or it’s about to intensify.”

One month into the war with Iran, @JonKarl breaks down Trump’s often conflicting statements about the war’s developments.https://t.co/LMawxMOHLc pic.twitter.com/XuToAZZKLy

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 29, 2026

“In ‘The Art of War,’ Sun Tzu wrote that a leader’s plans must be as dark and impenetrable as night,” Karl began, saying that Trump might not be basing his strategy on Sun Tzu but his plans were certainly difficult to pin down.

Karl highlighted the conflicting statements about developments in Iran, saying that Trump spent half the time talking about how many objectives had already been achieved — some, as he’s said on several occasions, ahead of schedule — while quietly moving to build up troops in the area, and perhaps signaling a coming escalation.

“Just consider his words over the past ten days,” Karl said. “On March 20th, he declared that he was ‘close to meeting his military objective and considering winding down our military efforts in the Middle East.’ The very next day he announced a major escalation, threatening to ‘hit and obliterate’ Iranian power infrastructure if the regime did not fully open the Strait of Hormuz.”

Just days later, Karl noted, Trump had announced that he’d been having “productive” conversations with officials regarding bringing hostilities to a close – but then extended the deadline more than once.

“Listening to President Trump’s words at any given moment, it sounds like the war is about to end — or it’s about to intensify,” Karl remarked.

Since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury, Trump and a number of his surrogates — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and War Secretary Pete Hegseth have repeatedly made it clear that they would not, at least publicly, remove any military or diplomatic options from the table. That in conjunction with Trump’s apparently-conflicting statements and actions suggest that he has, in fact, taken “The Art of War” to heart.