Donald Trump has admitted he was “shocked” by Iran’s retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, in a tacit acknowledgement that the U.S. may have miscalculated parts of the war.
As the conflict enters its third week, the president also demanded NATO allies help him reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil choke point, as a standoff with Iran sparks more pain at the pump for consumers.
But it was Trump’s confession about Iran’s escalation against Gulf allies that particularly raised eyebrows when he gave his latest update on Monday.
“They weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East,” he told reporters at the White House.
“Those missiles were set to go after them. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”
Trump’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran late last month led to immediate retaliation, a looming global oil crisis, and the deaths of at least 12 U.S. servicemen so far.
The first six American casualties took place on March 1 when an Iranian drone struck a tactical operation center at the Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait, killing six soldiers who were part of the 103rd Sustainment Command.
Another six crew members were also killed last week after their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in Western Iraq.
In a bid to pressure Gulf states to distance themselves from Washington, Iran has also attacked energy infrastructure, targeted airports and residential centers, and disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil.
Trump spent the weekend calling the leaders of allied nations to help him reopen the Strait, and on Tuesday declared: “We built the greatest military in the world and we protect people, and if we need their mine boats or if we need any piece of apparatus… they should be jumping to help us because we’ve helped them for years stay out of wars.”
However, many nations—including Britain, Germany, Japan and Spain—are yet to commit forces to a U.S.-led effort in the Gulf, wary of being drawn into a wider regional war.
“It’s not NATO’s war,” said Stefan Kornelius, spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“NATO is a defensive alliance, an alliance for the defense of its territory.”
Asked if the U.S. could reopen the Strait alone, now that, according to the administration, they had taken out Iran’s mine-laying ships, Trump claimed on Monday: “We could. But it takes two to tango.”
He also insisted, somewhat bizarrely, that “we don’t need oil” coming out of the Strait.
“We have all of the oil we need for ourselves. It’s one of the great assets we have—more than double anybody else in terms of oil production…so we don’t need it.”
But in the same meandering remarks, he also claimed that “numerous countries have told me that they’re on the way.” Asked to name them, he replied, “I’d rather not say yet, but we’ll be announcing them.”
The president’s contradictory comments are emblematic of the administration’s confusion over the conflict.
As revealed by the Daily Beast last week, U.S. government insiders have expressed dismay at the war with Iran, with some stunned over what they describe as a lack of planning, inconsistent messaging, and disregard for allies.
One State Department insider pointed to the “chaotic” rush to get Americans out of the Middle East after the strikes began.
“We were giving out a hotline number that had an automated message telling people they couldn’t rely on us to leave because there were no evacuation points at that time,” they told the Daily Beast.
“It was a mess.”
Another government insider noted how the president had oscillated between destroying Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities, to forcing regime change, to simply declaring victory was imminent.
“It’s very hard to produce briefing papers when you’re not sure what the objectives are,” they said.
And a third source described how they had been dealing with ongoing frustrations from Gulf allies who were “caught off-guard” due to inadequate time and coordination to prepare for Iran’s retaliatory attacks.
The war in the Middle East has now killed more than 2,000 people over the past two weeks, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, while millions of others have been displaced.
But it is not clear when the war will end, with the president saying last week it would be over “when I feel it in my bones.”
