The Trump administration puts out mixed messages on Iran

The Trump administration’s talking points on the Iran war have been a moving target, with officials giving sometimes conflicting takes of the operation’s goals in language that evolves in real-time

The Trump administration’s talking points on the Iran war have been a moving target, with officials giving sometimes conflicting takes of the operation’s goals in language that evolves in real-time.

President Donald Trump initially said the strikes constituted “major combat operations” that would likely be over in four or five weeks. But since then, he’s declared that the war is already “won” while also saying the U.S. still needs to “finish the job.” The operations could end “soon” or the military may need to go “further.”

The Trump administration’s decision to strike Iran and enter into a conflict with no solid end date in the early hours of Feb. 28 took many Americans by surprise, coming from a president who campaigned on an “America First” agenda and railed against foreign interventions. While Trump did address Iran in his State of the Union address — saying the U.S. military had “obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program” in June — he did not go to Congress for authorization for the war, and he did not spend weeks making the case to the public that the war was necessary.

Instead, the administration now finds itself in the position of having to justify the war to a skeptical public, as Americans are already seeing hits to their pocketbooks from rising gas prices. A new NBC News poll released last week finds that 54% of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling and say the U.S. should not have taken military action.

Asked for comment for this article, the White House referred NBC News to a post on X by press secretary Karoline Leavitt, which said it’s a “fake narrative” that there has been “‘mixed messaging’ about the objectives of Operation Epic Fury.” She said the administration has consistently pointed to the goal of destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, annihilating its navy and ensuring the “regime’s fellow terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region and attack our forces.”