“President Trump hasn’t sounded much like Donald Trump in recent days,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“He said the U.S. needed to attack Iran over a growing nuclear threat, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization wasn’t ripping off America and that Russian President Vladimir Putin was an impediment to ending the war in Ukraine. It was a remarkable shift for a president who said he would extract the U.S. from foreign entanglements, once called NATO obsolete and often has avoided criticizing Moscow.”

“But Trump’s supporters and critics alike said they didn’t expect the new version of Trump to last for long. By Friday afternoon, Trump said he wouldn’t lift sanctions on Iran after suggesting earlier in the week that he would do so. Minutes later, he said he was canceling trade talks with Canada.”

“The US military did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran’s largest nuclear sites last weekend because the site is so deep that the bombs likely would not have been effective, the U.S. top general told senators during a briefing on Thursday,” CNN reports.

“President Trump said Friday he halted plans to potentially ease sanctions on Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei downplayed the success of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear program,” Axios reports.

“Trump and his advisers had hoped Iran would agree to a meeting with the U.S. next week, where the White House planned to offer incentives — including limited sanctions relief — to jumpstart negotiations.”

“But a defiant video message Thursday by Khamenei — who declared victory over Israel and claimed Iran had dealt the U.S. a “slap in the face” — derailed that effort.”

“President Donald Trump abruptly announced Friday he was ending trade talks with Canada, objecting to the country’s new digital services tax, which is set to take effect Monday,” the Washington Post reports.

Wrote Trump: “Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period.”

New York Times: “The president’s threat to end talks with one of the country’s largest trading partners could unleash chaos on both sides of the border. Tariffs are taxes on imports, the burden for which could fall heaviest on U.S. companies and consumers.”

“Still, Mr. Trump has frequently brandished imminent plans to penalize other countries with high levies, only to later back down, especially once markets panic over the potential interruptions to commerce.”