Donald Trump is attempting to retcon his rationale for attacking Iran.
Speaking at a rally in Durant, Oklahoma, Thursday evening, the president suddenly claimed that part of his impetus for launching an all-out assault on the country seven months ago was because Iran was “doing drugs” at “drug factories.”
The add-on was introduced as Trump boasted about the special mission that preceded the war, Operation Midnight Hammer, in which Trump directed the U.S. military to destroy nuclear facilities in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan in June 2025.
”They went from Missouri and then at one 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 chutes into this, uh, drug factories, really,” Trump told the crowd.
“That’s what they were doing. They were nuclear and drugs. They were doing drugs, but they were doing the nuclear. But these drug factories/nuclear factories were hit so hard.”
It was the first time that Trump ever suggested the war in Iran was about drugs. Up until the Oklahoma rally, Trump had almost singularly blamed the conflict on Iran’s quest to develop nuclear technologies.
Before Operation Midnight Hammer took place, Tehran had argued that it was seeking uranium for peaceful purposes, such as expanding its nuclear energy program. The nation underwent years of nuclear site inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and just weeks prior the June attack was allowing IAEA inspectors to remain in the country for continuous supervision, according to the United Nations entity.
A series of historic, nationwide protests began in Iran in December 2025, sparked by the collapse of the local currency. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s ensuing crackdown killed thousands of people.
When Trump first announced the U.S.-Iran war in February, he explicitly called on the Iranian people to rise up against their government and obtain their independence.
“When we are finished, take over your government,” Trump said at the time. “It will be yours to take.”
But even after Khamenei was assassinated, Trump’s charge to the Iranian people did not pan out. Instead, Americans have found themselves in yet another unpopular forever war in the Middle East. The ensuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz has also roiled wallets at home, as the American economy contends with rising oil and gas prices.