Figuring out what the Trump administration’s end goal in its war on Iran has kept geopolitics experts around the world occupied for the past fortnight, after one of the first moves in the war wiped out the country’s senior leadership.
But despite the strikes wiping out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, as well as the ensuing 12 days of heavy aerial bombardment from US and Israeli forces on targets across the Islamic Republic, there’s no real sign that the end is in sight.
Donald Trump gave his version of events during a candid moment at a rally in Kentucky last night (March 11), where he claimed to have already ‘won’ the war, saying that ‘in the first hour it was over’ despite the continued waves of drones and missiles that have come from Iran since Khamenei was killed.
Leadership figures and military installations have been flattened over the past week and a half (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
This declaration of victory was followed by a dire threat from Trump to ‘finish it’, saying that American forces ‘don’t want to go back every two years’ when Iran rebuilds its military capabilities. Naturally, the president could not help but take a swing at Barack Obama as well.
Trump said to cheers from the crowd: “We don’t want to leave early, do we? We got to finish the job, right?”
Then, repeating previous claims that he had to attack Iran, as other presidents wouldn’t, he said: “There’ll be some day where you don’t have me as president, perhaps you’ll have a weak, pathetic, person like we’ve had in the past.
“Mostly all. Like Barack Hussein Obama, who signed one of the worst deals, ever with Iran.”
The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal, was negotiated by then-President Obama but was signed by a number of Western nations in a bid to prevent Iran from further developing its nuclear capabilities.
Donald Trump made a dig towards Barrack Obama during the speech (Michael Swensen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The deal represented the first time that the international community had got Iran to provide firm promises to end its nuclear weapon program, with commitments to let impartial inspectors to examine its facilities to ensure it was following the terms of the agreement.
These included giving up 97 percent of its enriched uranium, most of the centrifuges it needed to enrich nuclear material, and to stop producing plutonium. During the 28 months the deal was in place, inspectors found that Iran had almost entirely kept its end of the bargain.
Meanwhile, the West agreed to drop the heavy sanctions that had been in place on Iran for several years, which had forced it to the table in the first place.
Before his successful 2016 bid for the presidency, the Iran nuclear deal had been one of the major focuses of President Trump’s attacks on Obama, and was scrapped just over a year into his first term.
But with no deal on the table and economic sanctions snapping back into place, the strikes from last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer at least revealed that Iran had gone back to enriching nuclear material at its major Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant.
In his second term, despite the years of criticism, it did appear that Trump wanted to replicate something of Obama’s deal in his negotiations with Iran, while taking the restrictions further to include the development of non-nuclear missiles.
Yet, following Israel’s deadly strike on Khamenei on February 28, any hopes of a deal were entirely scuppered, with US forces across the Middle East suddenly drawn into the conflict in the inevitable counterattack from Iran’s largely independent military forces.
Fact check: Iran’s ‘drone threat’ to California
According to an alert reviewed by ABC News, the FBI has warned police departments in California over unverified claims that Iran could retaliate to US strikes in the Middle East by launching drones at the state.
“We recently acquired information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United States Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the US conducted strikes against Iran,” the alert read. “We have no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack.”
While the alert sounds worrying, it’s important to note that it’s common for investigators to share unverified and uncredible information with local law enforcement partners just out of caution.
According to CNN, a law enforcement source said they do not currently believe there is an imminent threat.
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom echoed this sentiment on Wednesday (March 11), writing on X: “While we are not aware of any imminent threats at this time, we remain prepared for any emergency in our state.”
President Donald Trump said the government is investigating the unverified claim.
Featured Image Credit: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
