President Donald Trump, who joined Israel in joint military strikes on Iran in the early morning hours of February 28, had some strong opinions against war with Tehran before sitting in the Oval Office.
In 2012 and 2013, Trump repeatedly insinuated that then-President Barack Obama would start a war with Iran to bolster his re-election efforts and divert attention from his perceived mistakes as a leader.
Obama never attacked Iran. The same cannot be said of Trump, who has now attacked the Middle Eastern republic three times during his two terms in office.
On January 17, 2012, Trump wrote on social media that he believed Obama would “attack Iran to get re-elected.”
He repeated his prediction in August of that year, emphasizing that Obama, “in some form” attack Iran before the elections.
He did it again on October 9, 2012.
“Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in a tailspin, watch whether he will launch an attack in Libya or Iran. He is desperate,” Trump said. wrote.
Later that same month, Trump the GOP warned not to “have Obama play the Iran card to start a war to get elected – be careful of the Republicans!”
On at least three other occasions, Trump predicted that Obama would attack Iran and claimed he would “save face”, or “because of his inability to negotiate well” or to “showing how tough he is.”
Now, eight months before what is expected to be a brutal midterm election cycle for Republicans, Trump has launched a military strike on Iran with the aim of bringing about regime change in the country.
Trump is not the only one in his administration spreading mixed messages about Iran.
In 2023, just before he became Vice President, JD Vance wrote on social media that he hoped the US had learned its lesson after the Iraq war, in which he had served.
“Twenty years ago we invaded Iraq. The war killed many innocent Iraqis and Americans. It destroyed the oldest Christian population in the world. It cost more than $1 trillion and turned Iraq into a satellite of Iran,” he wrote. “It was an unforced disaster, and I pray we learn its lessons.”
He continued, saying, “Even though I was just a child, I still feel guilty for supporting the war.”
Vance then said that Trump’s opposition to the Iraq war was the “major” contributor to what changed his thoughts about the president, whom he had once fiercely opposed and whom he suggested could become “America’s Hitler.”
“I hope we will do better in the future. And I know we won’t until the people who led us into Iraq are despised and ignored across the spectrum,” he wrote at the time. “Iraq was a disaster, yes, but the best way to do justice to the honored dead is to learn the lessons their blood bought.”
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Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, emphasized in 2024 that a vote for then-Vice President Kamala Harris would be a vote for “WWIII.”
“To anyone gullible enough to fall for a salacious media hoax: Trump said warmongering neoconservatives love to let your children die for wars they would never fight themselves. Liz Cheney is Kamala’s top adviser. Liz wants to invade the entire Middle East,” he says. wrote at the time. “Kamala = WWIII. Trump = Peace.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — after unsuccessfully running for president as a Democrat — joined Trump and Republicans in assuring the American people that “a vote for Trump is a vote to end wars.”
“A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for Dick Cheney and a vote for war, war and more war. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote to end wars, not start them. We are at a historic crossroads,” she says. said in 2024. “Our God-given rights are under attack. Now is the time for us to stand together, out of love for country, and for Donald Trump to get us back on the path to peace, freedom and prosperity.”
In 2020, when she ran for president, Gabbard even sold T-shirts “No war with Iran”. The ad copy on the t-shirt sales page read: “Say no to war with Iran!” according to the New York Post.
“How many more American lives will there be, how many trillions of dollars will be wasted before we get out,” the ad said. “It could be now, or it could be in ten or twenty years, but there is no American victory. Let’s bring our troops home from Iraq and Syria now!”
Gabbard criticized Trump’s foreign policy in 2019 and specifically warned against war with Iran.
“Trump’s short-sighted foreign policy is bringing us to the brink of war with Iran and allowing Iran to accelerate its nuclear program – just to please the Saudis and Netanyahu,” she said. wrote at the time. “This is not America first.”
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