TOI correspondent from WashingtonUS President Donald Trump on Sunday offered a range of explanations for launching “Operation Epic Fury,” the devastating air campaign against Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, including one justification: “I got him before he got me.
“In a series of interviews with several US media outlets – ten at a time – Trump spun a complex and sometimes contradictory narrative to justify a war that, after various opinion polls, has filled Americans with doubts and anxiety. The focus of this rhetorical attack came during a Monday afternoon phone call with ABC News when he was asked about the specific targeting of Iran’s highest religious and political authority.
“I got Khamenei before he got me,” the president bluntly told reporter Jonathan Karl. “They tried twice, I got it first.”
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In other interviews, some of which were brief phone calls, Trump offered a triple-threat justification for a sudden violent escalation against Iran at the end of negotiations, telling one media outlet about “specific, highly classified intelligence” that showed an Iranian cell was days away from attempting to assassinate the United States.
Earth, while confirming to another that Iran is interfering in the American elections. Perhaps the most compelling claim — repeated in interviews with CNBC and the Washington Post — was that Iran was “weeks, perhaps days” away from obtaining an effective nuclear warhead.
However, intelligence agencies have not uncovered any conclusive evidence to support these claims, although critics suggest that the president is gaslighting the public to provide legal cover for the regime change that is taking place instigated by Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Polls show that a majority of Americans oppose military action against Iran, with only one in four – most of them Republicans – supporting Trump on the issue.
The sheer volume of Trump’s interviews — and his social media posts — suggests a strategic attempt to saturate the news cycle and “flood the region” with the president’s version of events before domestic opposition can take hold. By speaking to multiple media outlets, he is able to tailor his message: talking about “freedom for the Iranian people” to liberal outlets like The Atlantic, while emphasizing “annihilation of their navy” to the more enthusiastic Fox News audience.
However, this strategy has revealed major contradictions. Trump told the New York Times on Sunday that the process followed the “Venezuelan model,” which means a quick transfer of power. However, by Monday, he was admitting to CNN that the strikes had been so successful that they had “taken out most of the candidates” to succeed him. “It wouldn’t be anyone we were thinking of because they’re all dead. The second or third place is dead,” he bragged to ABC, asserting his trademark bravado and self-aggrandizement: “No one else could do this but me.”Trump also revealed a surprise call from “one of the few remaining people still alive” in Iran’s leadership and suggested sanctions relief for a “pragmatic” successor. In an interview, he laid out three competing post-Khamenei scenarios: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps handing over weapons to the people, a Venezuelan-style beheading with most of the bureaucrats left in office, or the Iranians themselves seizing power.
“We have work to do and we have done it very well,” he said, claiming that the campaign was “completely ahead of schedule” after much of the Iranian navy was destroyed and the leadership was beheaded. The irony of the beheading leaves a void that contradicts his previous calls for the Iranian people to “reclaim their country.” Without leaving a clear leadership layer intact, the four-week timeline mentioned by Trump in an interview is viewed with suspicion by military analysts who fear the United States.
He once again entered into open conflict without an alternative plan. Despite the constant bombing, the US president remains obsessed with the image of a negotiator.
He claimed that the remaining Iranian officials “want to talk,” even as Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council denies any agenda for dialogue. “They want to talk. I said ‘too late!’” he boasted on a social media post.By keeping the messaging fluid — alternating between the roles of avenging leader and peace-seeking dealmaker — Trump is trying to cover all angles. If the regime falls quickly, it will claim a historic victory for freedom. If the war continues, he points to “imminent threats” that he has successfully “neutralized” to protect American lives. For now, the world watches as the US president continues to chronicle the war in real time, one phone call and one social media post at a time.
