Trump’s far-fetched Iran college bombing excuse lays naked a no-guts, all-glory prosecution of conflict | EUROtoday

At his press convention Monday, Donald Trump sought to regain the narrative round a lightning-fast marketing campaign of bombings in Iran which have up to now achieved some particular person successes whereas failing to dislodge a authorities that U.S. officers consider is an existential risk to its neighbors.

Instead, his predominant accomplishment was defining the picture of his wartime management for Americans in a approach Republicans used to search out distasteful as he continued to spout unproven theories and solutions for the conflict’s trigger.

As he spoke with reporters, Trump confirmed that he was very happy to take credit score for America’s navy successes in opposition to a foe that supposedly introduced an incredible risk to the U.S. navy, regardless of the uneven casualty numbers.

“We’re achieving major strides toward completing our military objective. And some people could say they’re pretty well complete,” the president advised reporters. “Together with our Israeli partners, we’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force.”

Yet, at the same time, Trump was wholly unwilling to link himself to any negative consequences of the conflict, including economic hardship and any unintended bloody civilian consequences of U.S. bombing campaigns.

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During questions from reporters, the president refused to take blame for a Tomahawk missile believed to have been fired by U.S. forces in the initial bombing campaign, which struck a girl’s school in Iran and killed 175 people, most of them children.

Instead, he suggested bizarrely that Iran may have fired the missile on its own base. The U.S. is the only military force in the conflict with the capacity to fire the Tomahawk, which is a ship-based missile. Fracturing his team’s response, Trump veered off into conspiratorial thinking that top U.S. officials haven’t been willing to back up.

“I’ll say that the Tomahawk, which is likely one of the strongest weapons round, is utilized by, you realize, it is offered and utilized by different international locations, you realize that,” said the president to a press corps that already knew Iran did not possess Tomahawks.

“And whether or not it is Iran, who additionally has some Tomahawks,” Trump falsely continued, “they wish they had more, but, whether it’s Iran or somebody else, the fact that a Tomahawk — a Tomahawk is very generic, it’s sold to other countries. But that’s being investigated right now.”

Video obtained by The New York Times and other outlets shows the apparently American strike hitting a Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base and the school building next to it.

Even under pointed questioning from a reporter cutting through the absurdity of the president’s explanation, Trump refused to admit any U.S. — or personal — responsibility and said that he’d wait to see what a supposed investigation carried out by the Pentagon determined regarding fault for the strike.

“I just don’t know enough about it,” the president insisted below additional questioning from a reporter.

Democrats issued pointed criticisms in response to that trade.

“Trump is lying through his teeth,” claimed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “The claim is beyond asinine. Again, he says whatever pops into his head no matter what the truth is. And we all know he lies but on something as formidable as this, it’s appalling. No other leader in the administration, not even Pete Hegseth, who does whatever Trump wants, is claiming Iranian missiles did this.”

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, added: “He & Sec. Hegseth are responsible for the killing of these 175 people, most of them children. They must be held accountable.”

On Monday the president also tried to focus on an issue some of his savviest advisers, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have used as an explanation for the U.S. war effort: that Iran’s ballistic missile threat was reaching an unacceptable strength and needed to be deal with.

Trump, however, repeated his claim that an Iranian attack on U.S. forces or their allies was imminent, something his administration has presented no evidence for. Iran was not engaged in hostilities prior to the U.S-Israeli bombing campaign, and Iranian diplomats met with U.S. officials in Geneva to discuss terms for a new agreement with the Trump administration when the attacks were ordered.

“They were going to take over the Middle East and they were going to try and destroy Israel,” the president insisted. Once again, none of his other advisers have made this same assertion.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt almost seemed to try and wipe away her own responsibility for her boss’ words, telling reporters on Tuesday that Trump’s view on this subject was “a feeling, again, based on fact, that Iran was going to strike the U.S.”

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The knowledge that it was a “feeling” that has now led the U.S. into a war that is costing taxpayers nearly a billion dollars a day and has already resulted in the deaths of seven Americans may not be particularly comforting to the more than half of registered voters who said in a Quinnipiac poll on Tuesday that they opposed the war with Iran, compared to around 4 in 10 who support it. Those numbers could easily get worse if economic fallout from the war continues, including the strain put on oil and gas prices by Iran’s attempts to mine the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump and his top aides issued angry threats to Iran regarding the waterway on Tuesday even as Leavitt insisted, as her boss did Monday, that soaring gas prices would actually soon plunge to new lows. In many states gas prices have jumped as much as 50 cents or more per gallon over the past week, a nightmare headline for any Republican running in a purple district this fall.

“Rest assured to the American individuals, the current enhance in oil and gasoline costs is non permanent and this operation will lead to decrease gasoline costs within the long-term,” Leavitt mentioned.

Even as Leavitt spoke, the president was engaged in a confrontation on Truth Social, demanding that Iran finish its efforts to mine the strait. There’s no signal that an alleviation of transport woes or his promised gasoline value bonanza are on the horizon in any respect.

Trump’s conflict with Iran might have triggered the president to enter his Biden period: Facing a difficult election cycle, the president is asking Americans to not consider their mendacity eyes and ears on every little thing from the economic system to their nation’s navy prowess. It’s a harmful gamble, however in contrast to Biden, the president’s personal private political destiny is insulated from the results that would arrive in November.