On Tuesday, much to the relief of the world, US President Donald Trump pulled one of his biggest TACOs yet - and he wasn't serving up Mexican food. Known for dishing out threats on the global stage, ranging from high sky-high tariffs to devastating military strikes, the president has gained a reputation for backtracking on his words.
This has popularised the acronym TACO - 'Trump Always Chickens Out' - a phrase that seems to pop up every few weeks. TACO Tuesday Trump's latest walkback happened late on Tuesday in the United States, leading many to label it "Taco Tuesday" - a phrase commonly used by restaurants in America.
The US president had threatened to launch devastating strikes on Iran over its blocking of the Strait of Hormuz , which "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," Trump warned, in a bid to pressure Tehran to make a deal that included reopening the vital waterway.
Many speculated whether Trump was considering a nuclear strike, particularly as Vice President JD Vance spoke of "tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use" during a speech in Hungary.
This led the White House to issue a clarification that it was not considering a nuclear strike, despite the president and vice-president's fighting talk.
"Literally nothing @VP said here 'implies' this, you absolute buffoons," the White House posted on X. One taco too many Observers have highlighted that the president's liberal use of ultimatums - often not carried out - has harmed US credibility on the global stage.
Over the course of the joint US-Israel war on Iran, English-language news outlets have churned out several op-eds and news articles opining on declining US credibility, and how this has become pinned to Trump's success in Iran.
"Trump just TACO'd away American credibility as he backs down on Iran threats," read a headline published by the UK-based Independent on Wednesday.
"American Credibility is on the line in Iran," read an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal two weeks earlier.
Trump's wartime threats also seemed to fall on deaf ears in Iran, where officials outright denied the existence of negotiations and rejected any talk of compromise.
Elsewhere, the president appeared to overstate US and Israeli military accomplishments in Iran, further harming US credibility. This includes claiming that Iran's air defences had been obliterated, only for several US aircraft to be shot down and hit by projectiles over Iran days later.
Former Trump aide and Iran hawk John Bolton said as much on Friday, describing the “Sure, it absolutely degrades White House credibility,” Bolton said on Friday. “And that’s a self-inflicted wound by the White House, not by the Iranians. If you overstate what you’ve accomplished and evidence comes that shows that you’ve overstated, you look foolish.”