Ever since the 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 necessary — and what the endgame is.
On Tuesday, Trump offered a new rationale, suggesting Iran was preparing to attack Israel and potentially other Gulf nations, requiring the U.S. — which has thousands of military and diplomatic troops in 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 so far appear to be strictly military and security-based, Trump has openly called for regime change.
He has also swayed between setting a clear four-week timeline for U.S. operations and saying the operations could last “as long as we want it to,” and has not ruled out American troops on the ground in Iran.
“I certainly hope that the endgame is well defined by the president and the administration so that Congress can do what Congress is supposed to do: to hold the president accountable, which has not been happening to this point,” said retired U.S. major-general Randy Manner, who served as the deputy commanding general of the United States 3rd 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 first 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 United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world,” he said.
Trump cited decades of attacks by Iran and its terrorist proxies in the region that killed American civilians, as well as failed negotiations to end their pursuit of a nuclear weapon, as reasons, along 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 ground,” as well as “annihilate their navy” and end Iran’s ability to fund and arm militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
“When we are finished, take over your government,” he said, speaking to the Iranian people.
“Now you have a president who is giving you what you want. So let’s see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny, and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within 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, along with dozens of other senior Iranian officials.
“All I want 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 every American’
In a video update Sunday, Trump said the U.S. operations in Iran will continue “until all of our objectives are met,” and that the regime had posed a threat to both the U.S. and Israel.
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He did not say if that threat was imminent.
“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be a dire threat to every American,” he said. “We cannot allow a nation that raises terrorist armies to possess such weapons — would allow them to extort the world to their evil will. Not going to let it happen.
“These actions are right, and they are necessary to ensure that Americans will never have to face a radical, bloodthirsty terrorist regime armed with nuclear weapons and lots of threats.”
He once again urged the Iranian people to “take back your country” and said the U.S. “will be there to help.”
‘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.
Speaking to 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 “most of the candidates” the U.S. had identified for succeeding the supreme leader had been killed, and that the operation will last “as long as we want it to.”
He told NBC News the “number one” outcome the U.S. is seeking “is decapitating them, getting rid of their whole group of killers and thugs. And there are many, many outcomes. We could do the short version or the longer version.”
Trump said the U.S. envisioned a timeline of “four to five weeks” in an interview with the New York Times.
He suggested “a perfect scenario” would be similar to 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 since the war began, Trump on Monday reiterated many of the objectives he laid out in his Saturday video but did not 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 number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon…. And finally, we’re ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue 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 have capability to go far longer than that.”
In a separate briefing at 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 is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it,” he said.
Caine said the objectives tasked to the military “will take some time to achieve, and in some cases will be difficult and gritty work.”
“Our mission is to protect and defend ourselves and, together with our regional partners, prevent Iran from the ability to project power outside of its borders and be ready for follow-on actions as appropriate,” he said.
‘We were aware of Israeli intentions’
Speaking to reporters Monday after briefing congressional leaders on Capitol Hill, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. had to act now because Israel was going to attack Iran, which would have retaliated by striking U.S. bases in the region.
“There absolutely was an imminent threat, and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked — and we believe they would be attacked — that they would immediately come after us,” he said. “We went proactively in a defensive way to prevent them from inflicting higher damage.
“Obviously, we were aware of Israeli intentions and understood what that would mean for us, and we had to be prepared to act as a result of it. But this had to happen no matter what.”
He denied, however, that the U.S. was forced to strike because of an impending Israeli action, and that the ultimate goal for the U.S. was regime change.
“That said, we would not mind, we would not be heartbroken, and we hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government and establish a new future for that country,” he said.
“We would love for that to be possible. But the objective 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 have 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 the negotiations were going, I think they were going to attack first, and I didn’t want that to happen. So if anything, I may have forced Israel’s hand. But Israel was ready and we were ready.”
He later said Iran was “getting ready to attack Israel, they were getting ready to attack others.”
Asked what the worst-case scenario for the war could be, Trump suggested it would be if “we do this and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person. That could happen.”
