Sometimes a politician's most honest sentence is the one that slips out. Donald Trump accidentally revealed why he struck a deal with Iran: "I didn't want an economic catastrophe. If we'd kept going like this, it could have happened." And with that one sentence, the whole tough-guy act fell apart.

Republicans are furious. Former Vice President Mike Pence called the deal "a complete capitulation and surrender to the enemy," and among senators there was talk that Reagan would be turning in his grave. The criticism isn't just party posturing - it hits something real: a leader who makes his biggest decisions by watching the stock market rather than the strategy.

And here's why Trump revealed it. The markets jumped "like a rocket" when peace looked near, and fell dramatically when negotiations stalled - and those swings were shaping his policy. By accepting the deal, the message to Iran and every other adversary is clear: just hold out under the economic pressure, and America will cave. Iran now holds the card of the Strait of Hormuz more firmly than ever.

For a Balkan reader, this is a lesson in what power looks like up close - not as iron will, but as a man staring at charts. We are constantly told that the great powers have long-term plans, that every move is part of a grand chess game. And here one of the most powerful leaders in the world admits he was deciding by the daily market. Maybe the whole game was always smaller than they sell it to us - a matter of nerves and stock indices, not principles.