‘Taco Trump’ brutally mocked online after backing out of Iran threat last minute

After threatening fresh military action against Iran, President Donald Trump announced that planned US strikes had been called off, citing progress in diplomatic talks. The abrupt reversal immediately reignited one of the internet's favourite Trump-era acronyms: TACO.

The US president announced the change of plan in a statement posted on Truth Social the same day the strikes had been planned to take place.

"Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening," he said on Thursday.

"Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others."

Trump speaks before signing a proclamation in the Oval Office of the White House (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)

"The Naval Blockade will remain in full force and effect until this Transaction is finalized — Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly."

Some experts called the change and Trump's messaging 'confusing', with a BBC correspondent in Washington writing: "Trump has been teasing a deal for months, all while threatening to escalate the war. The approach hasn't worked so far, as Iran hasn't shown any willingness to bend to Washington's demands to give up its nuclear programme."

The cancellation of the strikes also revived one of the long-running memes connected to Trump's second term. 'Trump TACO' has nothing to do with food and is actually a tongue-in-cheek acronym meaning "Trump Always Chickens Out."

Popularised by financial commentators, the phrase describes a recurring pattern in which Trump unveils bold economic or foreign-policy threats, such as imposing hefty import tariffs or threatening to strike a country, only to later scale them back, postpone them, or abandon them altogether when faced with market turbulence, political resistance, or other forms of pushback.

Trump said a deal is close to being signed (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)

"TACO Belle never fails," declared one commenter on X (formerly Twitter).

Another person quipped: "Just when everyone thinks Trump can’t TACO anymore. He just does it again man."

"And it's not even TACO tuesday night ... go figure.," a third social media user wrote.

Markets appeared to breathe a sigh of relief after Trump announced that fresh US strikes on Iran had been called off.

Oil prices fell sharply, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, dropping below $90 a barrel as traders dialled back fears of an immediate escalation in the Middle East.

After calling off the strikes, Trump answered questions from the media and said Washington and Tehran are once again close to a deal.

The BBC reports that Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei spoke to state media and said 'nothing has been finalised'.