Donald Trump has given a bizarre and incoherent new justification for why he launched a war against Iran.
While speaking at a midterm rally in Durant, Oklahoma, on Thursday night, the 80-year-old president hyped up “Operation Midnight Hammer,” the U.S. military action in June 2025 in which airstrikes targeted three of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Trump claimed to have “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear capabilities during the bombing raid, but waged war on Iran several months later on the basis of preventing the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Donald Trump is holding rallies in several red states ahead of the midterm elections. / Jonathan Ernst / Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Trump repeated the dubious claim that he “wiped out” Iran’s nuclear facilities last June during “one night with those beautiful B-2 bombers.”
“They went from Missouri, and then at 1 o’clock in the morning with no moon, dark as can be, these unbelievable machines led by the most incredible pilots in the world, they unloaded every single bomb, went right down air shoots into this, errr, drug factories, really,” Trump said.
“That’s what they were doing. They were nuclear and drug,” he added. “They were doing drugs, but they were doing the nuclear, but these drug factories slash nuclear factories were hit so hard.”
Trump has never previously suggested that the reason he launched military action against Iran was to target its “drug factories.”
The war with Iran has dragged on for more than seven months, with no end in sight.
The president has taken the perhaps unwise decision to discuss Iran in the crucial run-up to the midterms, despite the conflict being deeply unpopular with the public and potentially dooming the GOP in the Nov. 3 elections.
Last month, a CNN/SSRS poll found that a whopping 73 percent of U.S. adults disapproved of the war, which has sent gas and diesel prices soaring.
A total of 75 percent of Americans also said they did not believe Trump had a clear path for dealing with the Iran situation.
Slightly more (76 percent) said they did not believe the war was worth the toll on American lives or the financial hardships it has caused.
Trump is seemingly ignoring how unpopular his war is and continued to praise its apparent achievements during Thursday’s rally.
“Other presidents should have done this a long time before I came along,” Trump said. “Because if they had nuclear weapons, they would use them, and they’d use them quickly.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.