MIAMI — As talks in the Iran war intensified, President Donald Trump arrived in South Florida to attend a professional mixed-martial arts prize fight.
The president landed at windy Miami International Airport just after 7 p.m. on Saturday, carefully stepped down the stairs from Air Force One and immediately departed for the UFC 327 fight at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami.
There, Trump was cheered by the crowd, watched a series of bouts and learned that talks in Pakistan to end the Iran war ended without a deal. Afterward, while riding in the motorcade to his Doral resort just after midnight, Trump issued a social media post suggesting his next move is to order a naval blockade in the waters off Iran.
Before departing for Miami, the president again confidently claimed victory in the month-plus Iran war that independent analysts increasingly see as a stalemate.
“Regardless what happens, we win. We totally defeated that country,” Trump told reporters traveling with him to Florida when asked about the negotiations in Pakistan led by Vice President JD Vance on the U.S. side. “And so let’s see what happens. Maybe they make a deal, maybe they don’t. From the standpoint of America, we win. One of the things that’s happening is that folks are sailing up and heading out to our country, big, beautiful tankers, and we’re loading them up with oil and gas and everything else. Pretty, beautiful thing.”
The president’s bullish assessments, however, have been consistently undermined for weeks by Tehran’s ability to control the Strait of Hormuz, blocking shipping and transport of a petroleum flow that is a lifeline in the global economy. Despite a ceasefire declared on April 7, the U.S. national average for a gallon of regular gasoline held steady at $4.13, $4.05 in Florida and $4.20 in Palm Beach County.
Trump’s position that the United States wins regardless of the outcome in Pakistan drew skepticism from analysts who agree U.S. military tactical objectives have been abundantly exceeded but strategic gains have been torpedoed by Tehran’s resistance.
“History may judge this war favorably, but only if its consequences are positive and prove durable,” wrote Marc Froman of the Council on Foreign relations on April 10. “Iran must emerge equal measures weakened and chastened, the strait must reopen in line with the pre-war status quo, and the region must recover the stability and security required to continue its progress toward greater economic development and integration. None of that is guaranteed, nor appears particularly imminent — though it remains one of a few possible outcomes.”
Trump’s tumultuous week ends with appearance at UFC
Trump’s visit, expected to last no more than 24 hours, caps what was a tempestuous week that began with an Easter morning social media post demanding Tehran open the Strait of Hormuz that was punctuated by the f-word and mocking reference to Allah.
That seemingly desperate missive was followed by an even more flailing one April 7 in which Trump suggested he was willing to commit a genocidal war crime, stating that absent a deal to end the conflict a “whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
That drew a rebuke from the Vatican where American-born Pope Leo XIV called the president’s threat “totally unacceptable.” It also drew sharp criticism from rightwing podcasters Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly.
On April 9, the White House said it was surprised when first lady Melania Trump spoke publicly about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The first lady denounced what she described as a smear campaign to tie her to the international sex abuse network run by the deceased Palm Beach financier.
The following day, a UMass Lowell and YouGov poll found Trump’s disapproval rating at 59% with just 39% viewing his governance favorably — the latest survey showing the president’s popularity continuing to plummet. More bad news came April 10 when Trump’s own administration issued a report showing inflation rocketed to 3.3% in March, the highest monthly rate in two years.
Trump watches Vance concede no deal in Iran talks while at UFC arena
Nonetheless, when Trump entered the Miami arena, reporters traveling with the president said he was greeted with a standing ovation and cheers from the thousands of fans in attendance.
At one point, the president was joined at the Kaseya Center by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sergio Gor, a former White House aide that Trumped tapped as U.S. ambassador to India. Reporters observing the men said they chatted quietly.
Later, Trump stood still with his hands at his sides as he watched Vance brief the media assembled in Islamabad, and conceivably a global audience as well, after 12 hours of marathon talks. The vice president, joined by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff, revealed the negotiations with Iranian officials concluded without the ardently sought after agreement to end hostilities.
Reporters watching the president said that Rubio and Gor rejoined Trump soon after, with Rubio speaking animatedly. The arena crowd, in the meantime, watched a commercial for the much-billed UFC fight on the White House grounds in June.
White House officials deferred to the president for comment on the fruitless Iran negotiations. Throughout the rest of the evening, Trump was said to have continued to watch ensuing fights “impassively” and “without much reaction.”
He later chatted with his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and Rubio. Recording artist Vanilla Ice and podcaster Dan Bongino, who served as FBI deputy director were also at the event.
The president departed the arena just after midnight. He arrived at his Trump National Doral golf club and resort west of Miami at 12:25.
Reporting by Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect