AP News President Donald Trump on Monday pushed back against mounting criticism that he hasn’t done enough to explain why it was necessary to start a war with Iran now or to articulate his vision for an endgame to the escalating conflict.
The frustration is coming not just from the political left but also from his “Make America Great Again” base, as the conflict expands, energy prices surge, and the death toll in the Middle East rises in a war that the administration suggests may only be in the opening stages.
Trump also seemed to leave open the possibility for a more extensive U.S. military involvement, telling the New York Post on Monday that he was not ruling out the possibility of boots on the ground. It came as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the administration would not get into the “foolish” exercise of telegraphing “what we will or will not do.”
“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” Trump said. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ (or) ‘if they were necessary.’”
The president, and top aides, sought to defend his approach as Iran continues to retaliate by firing drones and missiles at Israel, American bases in the region, and at Persian Gulf neighbors. Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, also traded strikes on Monday, opening another front in the conflict.
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