Trump now claims US started war with Iran ‘because they were doing drugs’

President Donald Trump has offered a new justification for the war with Iran, which began at the end of February: that the country was making drugs. Speaking at a rally in Durant, Oklahoma, on Thursday, he described the June 2025 bombing raid known as Operation Midnight Hammer as a strike on "drug factories/nuclear factories." The Independent reports this appears to be the first time he has cited narcotics as a reason for attacking Iran.

Trump has previously said the aim was to stop Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon, and he has also suggested regime change. Early in the conflict, which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he urged Iranians to take over their government. That did not happen, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, and the fighting has continued with no end in sight.

Polling shows the war is unpopular. A CNN/SSRS survey of 1,206 people, conducted September 16-17, found 73 percent disapproved of his handling of it, and 75 percent said he lacks a clear plan.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Independent’s reporting. Read the full story at The Independent →