On February 28, 2026, President Trump launched the largest US military operation in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq — a full-scale regime-change campaign in Iran that killed Supreme Leader Khamenei and targeted leadership across 24 provinces. This directly contradicts years of promises to end exactly this kind of war.
In 2019, Trump said: “Our policy of never-ending war, regime change, and nation-building is being replaced by the clear-eyed pursuit of American interests.” He told audiences that toppling regimes without plans “creates power vacuums that are filled simply by terrorists.” He pledged to “break the cycle of regime change” and bring troops home. These were not offhand remarks — they were central to his political identity and appeal to war-weary voters.
CNN's analysis was blunt: “Trump launches the regime-change effort in Iran that he pledged to avoid.” The Washington Post noted the operation “risks alienating war-weary supporters” — the very base Trump built by promising to end forever wars.
Trump sold himself as the anti-war president. He attacked Bush for Iraq, Obama for Libya, and Biden for Afghanistan. He promised American mothers their children would not die in Middle Eastern wars. And then he launched one.
Iran is a nation of 90 million people — three times the population of Iraq. The 2003 Iraq invasion, which Trump himself called a “disaster,” lasted 20 years, killed over 4,400 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and cost trillions of dollars. Trump has now started something potentially larger.