The US is waging war against Iran – along with Israel, in an operation that Donald Trump has described as “massive and ongoing”. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s longtime Supreme Leader, is dead, as are several high-ranking officials in his regime. Several US soldiers also died. Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine have all warned that more Americans will die. “That’s just the way it is,” the president said on Sunday.
Trump’s announcement that Americans had died as a result of the Iran operation came in a pre-recorded video – similar to his initial announcement of the operation on Friday. Since then, the president has seemingly called every media outlet he could think of to talk about what happened and what happened next. He failed to provide clear answers. His contradictory assessments suggest the government may not have fully thought through the consequences of an attack on a country of 90 million people.
Trump told The New York Times on Sunday that he envisioned an outcome for Iran similar to what occurred after the military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. Maduro was replaced by Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president whom the US considers controllable. “What we did in Venezuela is, in my opinion, the perfect, the perfect scenario,” Trump said. Fox News host Bret Baier reported on Monday that Trump told him that Venezuela was the “template” for how he envisioned developments in Iran.
Who will take over the regime?
So: Who is Iran’s Delcy Rodríguez? ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reported that Trump told him they had identified people to take over the country – but killed them all. “The attack was so successful that it eliminated most of the candidates,” Trump said. “It won’t be anyone we had in mind because they’re all dead. Second and third place are dead.”
“We don’t know who the leadership is,” Trump later told CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “We don’t know who they’re going to vote for. Maybe they’ll get lucky and get someone who knows what they’re doing.” Trump claimed that even Iran does not know who is in charge and that the situation resembles a “jobless queue.”
Trump may have gotten what he wanted in Venezuela – but Iran is not Venezuela. And the idea that a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would take power and then cooperate with the US is dubious, to say the least. Trump appears to say this was planned, but at the same time he has stated that he wants the Iranian people to rise up and take control of the government – even suggesting that the regime might simply decide to give up power. “They would really capitulate to the people if you think about it,” he told the Times.
Goals and schedule unclear
The plan is unclear – as is the actual goal. Trump and his administration have said they need to counter the threat Iran poses to the United States, even though Iran does not have a nuclear weapon and the administration acknowledged it had no intelligence indicating planned attacks by Iran on U.S. forces. Since the beginning of the offensive, Trump has also stated that he simply wants to free the Iranians. “All I want is freedom for the people,” he told the Washington Post. Hegseth, meanwhile, claimed on Monday that “this is not a regime change war” – despite the targeted attacks on the regime’s leadership. “The regime has changed,” Hegseth added.
“We fight wars to win, and we don’t waste time or lives,” Hegseth said.
What “winning” actually means here is unclear – as is how many lives the war will ultimately cost, beyond the four Americans already confirmed dead. Trump was also vague about the duration of the operation: He told the Times that he wanted to continue the war for “four to five weeks,” and told Axios that he could end the war in “two or three days.” Speaking at the White House on Monday, he said the war could last “far longer” than four or five weeks, telling Tapper that “we haven’t really started hitting them yet” – that the “big wave” is coming soon.
Trump’s contradictory messages
Trump didn’t help dispel the general confusion on Monday when he claimed that America’s goals were “clear” and said he wanted to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, “destroy” the country’s navy and stop funding terrorist groups.
The speech, delivered during a ceremony for Medal of Honor recipients, marked the first time the president has spoken publicly about the war against Iran. Trump insisted he wasn’t “bored” by the war – but even during that speech he barely stayed on topic. “I picked out the curtains in my first term,” he said at one point, pointing to the curtains behind him in the middle of a long-winded digression about the White House ballroom under construction. “I always liked gold. I think we can save a lot of money. I just saved curtains.”
