Donald Trump is under scrutiny after attending a UFC event while talks with Iran failed to reach an agreement. Alongside Trump, Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, and several members of the Trump family were also in attendance.
Criticizing the move, Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote, “The Secretary of State skipped the Iran negotiations in Pakistan to attend a UFC fight. So did the Special Envoy for South and Central Asia, even as Pakistan has no confirmed U.S. ambassador.”
While JD Vance was in Islamabad announcing that the Iran talks had failed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was hanging out with Donald Trump at UFC Miami.
An absolute clown show running the country. pic.twitter.com/qVooD9Acvq
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 12, 2026
They added, “Tens of thousands of Americans are in harm’s way. Gas prices are rising. This is not serious leadership. It’s amateur hour,” according to The Guardian.
A panel on MS Now also slammed Trump, stating, “He’s proving that he doesn’t care.”
One panelist added, “He doesn’t really care because otherwise he would at least pretend to be, if not in the situation room, just at the White House…pretending that at the end of the day he’s paying attention.”
At the event, Trump talked to Brazilian fighter Paulo Costa after he defeated Azamat Murzakanov. He shook hands with Costa and told the fighter, “You’re a beautiful guy…You could be a model, you look so good,” adding, “You’re too good looking to be a fighter, you are some fighter.”
According to the Times of Israel, Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that he does not care about Iran coming back for peace talks with the U.S.
He said, “I don’t care if they come back or not. If they don’t come back, I’m fine.”
Vice President JD Vance had been in Islamabad, Pakistan, talking with Iranian officials for almost 21 hours before revealing they could not reach a deal. As reported by the Guardian, reportedly due to Iran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Vance said, “We need to see an affirmative commitment that [Iran] will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.”
JD Vance: Iran said, ‘We refuse to give up the right to enrichment.’ And I thought to myself, you know what, my wife has the right to skydive, but she doesn’t jump out of an airplane. Because she and I have an agreement that she’s not going to do that, because I don’t want my… pic.twitter.com/8psSTZC0uf
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) April 12, 2026
He added, “That is the core goal of the president of the United States, and that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations.” Vance also claimed that the failure of the negotiations is “bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.”
Later, the U.S. Central Command said it would start a blockade of Iranian ports on Monday, as reported by the BBC. Trump had revealed that this decision was in response to Iran, “knowingly failing” to open the Strait of Hormuz.
He also said any attack by the Iranian forces on U.S. ships would face intense military retaliation. They would also stop any ship found paying any kind of transit toll to Iran.
