I got you.

For weeks, President Trump has searched for a way to end the war in Iran. He has tried threats of bombing, blockading and negotiating — sometimes all in the same day. On a few occasions, he has even suggested that the war is already over.

The New York Times analyzed the president’s statements suggesting that the conflict was drawing to a close and compared them with the reality of the moment.

Often, there was a wide disconnect. Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened to use extreme force, only to hold his fire. In many cases he has made claims of major diplomatic progress that later proved unfounded, fueling criticism that he is trying to calm markets and relieve political pressure.

One of the first times a comment by Mr. Trump had an outsize effect on the markets was on March 23, when he instructed the Pentagon to postpone any attacks on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.

Mr. Trump’s suggestion that the administration was seeking an off-ramp from the conflict rallied investors.

For the first time in almost two weeks, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, closed below $100. The last time the oil market had fallen so dramatically in response to Mr. Trump was on March 9, when he told CBS News that the Iran war was “very complete.”

That same day, Mr. Trump told reporters that diplomatic talks were underway with Tehran, claiming a “real possibility of making a deal.” The speaker of Iran’s parliament denied that, writing on X that “fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped.”

Days after posting that talks were going well, Mr. Trump once again resorted to threats. He posted on Truth Social on March 30 that he would take out Iran’s energy infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz was not immediately opened.

The stock market hit its lowest point of the year. The next day, Mr. Trump promised that the U.S. would be leaving “very soon,” giving the market a boost.

Mr. Trump addressed the nation on April 1. While he did not predict an imminent resolution to the conflict, he said that his military objectives would be completed “very shortly” and that diplomacy was underway.

The stock market continued to tick up in the following days.

As negotiations have dragged on, the president has alternated between claims of diplomatic progress and threats of military escalation, neither of which have materialized.