The Steve that Tony knew would value honesty to the point of cruelty as long as it was in the service of freedom. And those were very closely connected concepts. Tony had already been the one arguing that his freedom was an ontological negative, so he couldn't exactly start making demands in its favour, only get himself to his feet while he pulled his robe on and pushed his sunglasses up his nose. It was finally then that he muttered, "You know I can't believe you now." It had been naive of Tony to have trusted him so much in the first place.