Ever for the reason that United States and Israel began striking Iran on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have offered shifting explanations for why the war is needed — and what the endgame is.
On Tuesday, Trump offered a brand new rationale, suggesting Iran was preparing to attack Israel and potentially other Gulf nations, requiring the U.S. — which has 1000’s of military and diplomatic troops within the Middle East — to strike first.
That appeared to contradict suggestions a day earlier that Israel was planning to attack Iran pre-emptively, requiring the U.S. to act and avoid a deadly Iranian retaliation.
Officials have cited the “imminent” threat posed by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, despite claiming that last June’s strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities. Efforts were underway to rebuild those facilities, officials have claimed.
While the stated objectives of the war up to now seem like strictly military and security-based, Trump has openly called for regime change.
He has also swayed between setting a transparent four-week timeline for U.S. operations and saying the operations could last “so long as we wish it to,” and has not ruled out American troops on the bottom in Iran.
“I actually hope that the endgame is well defined by the president and the administration in order that Congress can do what Congress is imagined to do: to carry the president accountable, which has not been happening up to now,” said retired U.S. major-general Randy Manner, who served because the deputy commanding general of the US third Army in Kuwait.
Here’s how the message has evolved since Saturday.
Trump to Iranians: ‘America is backing you’
In a video address posted early Saturday morning after the primary U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, Trump said his objective was to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”
“Its menacing activities directly endanger the US, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world,” he said.
Trump cited many years of attacks by Iran and its terrorist proxies within the region that killed American civilians, in addition to failed negotiations to finish their pursuit of a nuclear weapon, as reasons, together with Iran’s capability to hit Europe and U.S. bases overseas with long-range ballistic missiles that “could soon reach the American homeland.”
He said the U.S. will “destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the bottom,” in addition to “annihilate their navy” and end Iran’s ability to fund and arm militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
“After we are finished, take over your government,” he said, talking to the Iranian people.
“Now you could have a president who’s supplying you with what you wish. So let’s see the way you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now could be the time to seize control of your destiny, and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that’s close inside your reach.”
Trump and Israeli officials later confirmed that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a strike on his Tehran compound, together with dozens of other senior Iranian officials.
“All I need is freedom for the people,” Trump told the Washington Post in an interview early Saturday after his announcement but before Khamenei’s death was confirmed.
‘A dire threat to each American’
In a video update Sunday, Trump said the U.S. operations in Iran will proceed “until all of our objectives are met,” and that the regime had posed a threat to each the U.S. and Israel.
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He didn’t say if that threat was imminent.
“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons could be a dire threat to each American,” he said. “We cannot allow a nation that raises terrorist armies to own such weapons — would allow them to extort the world to their evil will. Not going to let it occur.
“These actions are right, they usually are needed to make sure that Americans won’t ever should face a radical, bloodthirsty terrorist regime armed with nuclear weapons and a lot of threats.”
He once more urged the Iranian people to “take back your country” and said the U.S. “can be there to assist.”
‘I got him before he got me’
In a series of one-on-one phone interviews with reporters Sunday, Trump offered shifting rationales and timelines for the war.
Chatting with ABC News, the president said of Khamenei, “I got him before he got me,” referring to U.S. allegations of Iran-backed plots to assassinate Trump. He added that “many of the candidates” the U.S. had identified for succeeding the supreme leader had been killed, and that the operation will last “so long as we wish it to.”
He told NBC News the “primary” consequence the U.S. is looking for “is decapitating them, eliminating their whole group of killers and thugs. And there are numerous, many outcomes. We could do the short version or the longer version.”
Trump said the U.S. envisioned a timeline of “4 to 5 weeks” in an interview with the Latest York Times.
He suggested “an ideal scenario” could be just like what happened in Venezuela, where much of the regime remained in place and pledged to work with the U.S. after the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
‘Not a so-called regime change war’
In his first public event for the reason that war began, Trump on Monday reiterated most of the objectives he specified by his Saturday video but didn’t repeat his call for regime change.
“Our objectives are clear,” he said. “First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities…. Second, we’re annihilating their navy…. Third, we’re ensuring that the world’s primary sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon…. And eventually, we’re ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot proceed to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”
Trump said the administration had projected a four-to-five-week timeline “but we’ve capability to go far longer than that.”
In a separate briefing on the Pentagon with Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the military’s “clear, devastating, decisive mission” is to “destroy the missile threat, destroy the navy, no nukes.”
“This isn’t a so-called regime change war, however the regime sure did change, and the world is best off for it,” he said.
Caine said the objectives tasked to the military “will take a while to realize, and in some cases can be difficult and gritty work.”
“Our mission is to guard and defend ourselves and, along with our regional partners, prevent Iran from the flexibility to project power outside of its borders and be ready for follow-on actions as appropriate,” he said.
‘We were aware of Israeli intentions’
Chatting with reporters Monday after briefing congressional leaders on Capitol Hill, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. needed to act now because Israel was going to attack Iran, which might have retaliated by striking U.S. bases within the region.
“There absolutely was an imminent threat, and the approaching threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked — and we consider they might be attacked — that they might immediately come after us,” he said. “We went proactively in a defensive technique to prevent them from inflicting higher damage.
“Obviously, we were aware of Israeli intentions and understood what that might mean for us, and we needed to be prepared to act because of this of it. But this needed to occur regardless of what.”
He denied, nevertheless, that the U.S. was forced to strike due to an impending Israeli motion, and that the last word goal for the U.S. was regime change.
“That said, we might not mind, we might not be heartbroken, and we hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government and establish a brand new future for that country,” he said.
“We might love for that to be possible. But the target of this mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities and of their naval capabilities.”
‘They were going to attack first’
During an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday, Trump was asked if Israel forced his hand and pulled the U.S. into war with Iran.
“No, I might need forced their hand,” Trump replied.
“You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn’t do it. They were going to attack first, I felt strongly about that.”
He added: “Based on the way in which the negotiations were going, I believe they were going to attack first, and I didn’t want that to occur. So if anything, I could have forced Israel’s hand. But Israel was ready and we were ready.”
He later said Iran was “on the brink of attack Israel, they were on the brink of attack others.”
Asked what the worst-case scenario for the war might be, Trump suggested it will be if “we do that after which anyone takes over who’s as bad because the previous person. That would occur.”