How the war in Iran progresses, and what the ultimate goal is, depends on the day, the hour and which administration official is speaking at the time.
President Donald Trump initially said the strikes were “major combat operations” that would likely end in four or five weeks. But since then, he has declared the war already “won” while saying the US still needs to “finish the job.” Jobs may end “soon” or troops may need to “continue.”
The Trump administration’s decision to strike Iran and enter into a conflict with no firm deadline of the first hours of Feb. 28 surprised many Americans, coming from a president who campaigned on an “America First” agenda and railed against foreign intervention. When Trump addressed Iran in his State of the Union address — saying the U.S. military had “destroyed Iran’s nuclear weapons program” in June — he didn’t go to Congress to authorize war, and he didn’t spend weeks making the public case that 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 the Trump administration and say the US should not have gone to war.
Asked for comment on the article, the White House referred NBC News to a post on X by press secretary Caroline Leavitt, who said it was “false news” that there had been “‘mixed messages’ about the objectives of Operation Epic Fury.” He said the administration has been aiming to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, destroy its military and ensure that “terrorist proxies will no longer be able to destabilize the region and attack our forces.”
Here’s a look at the Trump administration’s messages on war.
Why did the US attack Iran?
March 2: End the 47-year war. “For 47 long years, the expansionist and Islamist regime in Tehran has waged a bitter and one-sided war with America.” [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth]
March 2: Iran refuses to negotiate. “Last June, Operation Midnight Hammer destroyed their nuclear program. After that, we told them clearly, ‘That’s it. Now make a deal.’ They arrogantly refused. We said, ‘Rebuild and we’ll stop you again, this time, the worst.’ Well, President Trump, Secretary Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, bent over backwards for real negotiations, giving way to peace. I watched it. I was there. They make repeated, sincere attempts at peace. The former regime had every opportunity to make a peaceful and reasonable agreement. But Tehran did not negotiate; they stopped, buying time to reload their missiles and resume their nuclear ambitions.” [Hegseth]
March 2: Response to Israel planning to strike. “There was an looming threat, and the looming threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked – and we believe it would be attacked – that it would come right after us, and we couldn’t sit there and hold a blow before we responded, because the Department of Defense has assessed that if we did that, if we waited for them to hit us first after the attack – and they were attacked by someone else, they just hit them, Israel hit us first. We would face more casualties and more deaths. [Secretary of State Marco Rubio]
March 2: Nothing to do with Israel plans to strike. “No, I would have forced their hand. … If anything, I would have forced Israel’s hand.” [Trump]
March 2: Iran will have ‘multiple short-range missiles’ for almost a year. “But this operation had to happen because Iran in a year or a year and a half will cross the line of deterrence, which means it will have so many short-range missiles, so many drones, that no one can do anything about it because it can hold the whole world.” [Rubio]
Mach 4: Trump had a ‘good feeling’ that Iran would strike. “I think it was important in terms of the timeline, but I think the president, prior to that call, had a good feeling that the Iranian regime was going to hit United States assets and our personnel in the region.” [Leavitt]
How important is war?
February 28: ‘Great battles.’ “Just a short time ago, the United States military began a major offensive in Iran. … For these reasons, the United States military is doing a great and ongoing job to prevent this most evil tyranny from threatening America and our core national security interests.” [Trump]
March 9: ‘A short trip.’ “We took a little trip because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. And I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short trip. … This was just a trip for something that had to be done. We’re very close to finishing that.” [Trump]
What is the goal?
February 28: No nuclear weapons. “It has always been the policy of the United States, especially my administration, that this terrorist regime will never have a nuclear weapon. … They have refused every opportunity to abandon their nuclear ambitions, and we cannot take it any longer. Instead, they are trying to rebuild their nuclear program and continue to develop long-range missiles that now threaten our best friends in Europe, our friends and American soldiers who may soon reach their homeland.” [Trump]
March 2: No change of regime. “This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime has changed, and the world is better for it.” [Hegseth]
March 2: Remove the missiles, navy and nuclear threat. “This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive operation: destroy the missile threat, destroy the navy, no nukes.” [Hegseth]
March 2: Stop Iran from ‘capable of producing energy outside its borders.’ “As the secretary stated, our military objectives are clear: Our mission is to defend and defend ourselves, and in cooperation with our regional partners, we prevent Iran from being able to produce energy outside its borders, and we are ready for the next steps, as appropriate.” [Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine]
March 2: No nuclear weapons. “Iran will never be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. That is the goal of this project and President Trump will see it through to the end.” [Vice President JD Vance]
March 4: Get rid of the missiles, the navy and the nuclear threat. “The stated military objectives of Operation Epic Fury are as follows: to eliminate Iran’s missile threat, destroy its naval capabilities, disrupt its missile production infrastructure and facilities, cut off its path and end its path to nuclear weapons. [Leavitt]
March 4: Get rid of the missiles, the navy and the nuclear threat. “The mission of Operation Epic Fury is laser-focused: destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles, destroy Iran’s missile production, destroy its navy and other security infrastructure – and they will never have nuclear weapons.” [Hegseth]
March 6: Unconditional surrender. “There can be no deal with Iran without NO POWER! After that, with the election of a GREAT AND WELCOME LEADER), we, along with many of our most amazing and brave allies and partners, will work hard to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever. [Trump]
March 9: Keep the Strait of Hormuz safe. “So the Strait of Hormuz will always be safe. We have a lot of Navy ships there. We have the best equipment in the world. And, a lot of their ships are down at the bottom of the sea. But we’re going to hit it so hard it won’t be possible for him or anyone else to help them take back that part of the world … do anything.” [Trump]
March 11: Stop Iran from withdrawing power and keep the Strait of Hormuz safe. “For years, the Iranian regime has threatened the deployment of commercial and US military vessels in international waters. Our goal is to eliminate their ability to generate energy and harass ships in the Strait of Hormuz.” [CENTCOM Commander Adm. Bradley Cooper]
Is the war over?
March 8: It’s just the beginning. “What I want your viewers to understand is that this is just the beginning.” [Hegseth]
March 9: ‘Very good’ finished. “I think the war is very, very complete.” [Trump]
March 9: Both ends and starts. “Well, I guess you could say both [very complete and just the beginning].” [Trump]
March 9: It’s not enough to win yet. “We have already won in many ways, but we have not won enough. We are moving forward more determined than ever to achieve a victory that will end this long-lasting danger forever.” [Trump]
March 9: To be continued. “We can call it a great success right now – as we’re leaving here, I can call it – or we can go further, and we’ll still be going.” [Trump]
March 11: The US has already won. “You know, you don’t want to say you won early. We won. The first hour is over.” [Trump]
March 11: US needs to ‘end the job.’ “We don’t want to leave early, do we? We have to finish the job.” [Trump]
How long will the war last?
March 2: Four to five weeks or more. “From the beginning, we predicted four to five weeks. But we have the ability to go longer than that. … Someone said today, they said, ‘Oh, the president wants to do it very quickly, after that, he will be tired.’ I don’t get bored. There is nothing boring about this.” [Trump]
March 2: More or less two, four or six weeks. “President Trump has all the power in the world to talk about how long it can take or how long it can take – four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It can go up, it can go back.” [Hegseth]
March 2: ‘The rate at which we must go.’ “We will go as far as we need to advance American interests. But we are not silent about it. You don’t have to throw 200,000 people there and stay for 20 years.” [Hegseth]
March 10: It comes to Trump. “From the beginning, from this forum, we didn’t say how long it would take. Our will is never-ending. Ultimately, the president gets to decide the final state of those goals, right? But what he always said, I want the American people to understand, this is never-ending. It doesn’t last long. We don’t allow our goal for the president to accomplish and our goal is to give you that continuously.” [Hegseth]
March 10: It comes to Trump. “We know that the U.S. military and our brave warriors are making these goals faster and faster ahead of schedule. But ultimately, the operation will end when the commander-in-chief decides that the military goals have been achieved, fully realized, and that Iran is in a position of complete and unconditional surrender, whether they say so or not.” [Leavitt]
March 11: Soon. “President Trump told Axios in a brief phone interview Wednesday that the war with Iran will end ‘soon’ because ‘there is nothing left to target.’ [Trump]
