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  "path": "/post/207196/donald-trump-no-plan-iran",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-02T14:47:21.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Republican Party",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Foreign Policy",
    "Middle East",
    "Islamic Republic of Iran",
    "Iran",
    "Military",
    "American military",
    "Senate",
    "Lindsey Graham",
    "reported",
    "_The Washington Post_",
    "_The New York Times_",
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    "wrote",
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  "textContent": "Donald Trump declared war against Iran over the weekend, killing dozens of people in the country’s senior leadership in the process, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yet Trump still doesn’t have a clear reason for doing so—or a plan for what to do next.\n\nThe attack was initially advertised as an attempt at regime change, but the president has reportedly called droves of journalists in the days since in various attempts to revamp his message.\n\n“Trump is basically calling up every journalist in his phone to workshop different timelines and goals for his war,” reported _The Economist_ ’s Gregg Carlstrom.\n\nCarlstrom noted that Trump had offered four remarkably different responses to America’s major media companies. He told _The Washington Post_ that the aim of the war would be “freedom for the people” of Iran. Meanwhile, he told _The New York Times_ that he had “three very good choices” for who could take control of Iran. Then, he told ABC News that the “attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates” for leadership.\n\n“It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead,” Trump told ABC’s Jonathan Karl.\n\nTrump also told the _Times_ that the war might end in “four to five weeks,” though that was way off base from the “two or three days” estimate he offered Axios.\n\n“I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs],’” Trump told Axios in a phone interview from Mar-a-Lago, adding that regardless of his decision, it would take the Iranians “several years” to recover from the attack.\n\n_The Wall Street Journal_ reported that Trump initially stated that the Iranian mission was about “threat reduction,” then about “getting a deal,” then about “regime change” again. “And that was just on Sunday,” reported the paper’s Alex Ward.\n\n“He doesn’t sound convinced by any of it. He’s throwing spaghetti at the wall. Ultimately I suspect he just wants to say he ‘solved’ a problem that has vexed every American president since Jimmy Carter,” wrote Carlstrom. “But there’s no clear idea what that looks like and no plan for how to get there. And there are plenty of possible scenarios in which Trump declares victory and leaves the region with an absolute mess.”\n\nThe confusion left even the president’s staunchest allies confused about the purpose of the war.  South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham tried to make sense of the mission in an interview with NBC News’s _Meet the Press_ , though he did not succeed.\n\n“Is hope the plan for the future of Iran?” asked host Kristin Welker on Sunday, quoting one of Trump’s social media posts.\n\n“No, the future of Iran is going to be determined by the Iranian people. The new Iran, whatever it is … our goal is to make sure it cannot become, again, the largest state sponsored terrorism—that’s a win for us,” Graham said.\n\n“But is there a plan, senator? Is there a plan to make sure that happens? Is there a plan—does the president have a plan to make sure that happens?” Welker said.\n\n“No! It’s not his job or my job to do this,” Graham said, audibly distressed. “How many times do I have to tell you?”\n\nSo far, four Americans have been killed in the Iranian air strikes, according to U.S. military officials, while several U.S. jets were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire.\n\nAs of Monday morning, Trump still has yet to address the American people regarding the war—a major departure from his predecessors, who immediately recognized the need to justify the need for military intervention. Woodrow Wilson spoke to the public the same day he asked Congress to declare war against Germany during World War I, while Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a national address hours before the country declared war during World War II.\n\nEven Harry Truman, who proceeded with the Korean War without the authorization of Congress—much like Trump—delivered a radio address to the American public shortly after he ordered U.S. air and naval forces to assist South Korea.",
  "title": "Trump Is Using Interviews to Brainstorm Next Steps in Iran"
}