It's not "confusing them" because the Mullahs have proven, time and time again, that they're a whole lot smarter than Trump. Trump says that "No one could have known that they'd close the Straits of Hormuz", but in reality EVERYONE knew and Trump was warned they would do it by the Pentagon.
Trump is pulling his usual "going with my gut" because he knows more than anybody else about everything, which is the real reason why he's gone bankrupt 7 times, and lost more money than anyone in the history of the world.
Instead of "knowing your enemy", Trump goes with bullying and bluster. The people I worked with spent days studying the vendor corporations, the properties and the negotiating team before going into a negotiation. Trump brags that he walks in, sits down and "reads the room" when he negotiates. It really does explain why he continually gets fleeced.