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WORLD TURKISH NEWS Trump criticized Republican hawks. But why did he go to war with Iran? Trump is collapsing. On election night in November 2024, Donald Trump gave a victory speech containing an anti-war message. "[My opponents] said 'he's going to start a war'," he said. "I'm not going to start wars. I'm going to stop wars." President Trump still boasts about his role in stopping wars. But by declaring war on Iran, he has led the US into its most significant military operation since withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2021; a move that has surprised previous US administrations. However, exactly how and why the Trump administration made the decision to go to war with Iran remains unclear. While President George W. Bush's administration justified the invasion of Iraq to Congress and the world in 2002, Trump did little to prepare Americans for military action. He put forward various reasons for ordering the airstrikes, both calling for a popular uprising in Iran and stating that he wanted to deal with a more "friendly" regime. Officials stated that the military objective was to destroy Iran's missile stockpiles and offensive capabilities. Why We Wrote This: Why did Donald Trump, who campaigned against starting new wars, launch such a major campaign against Iran? This remains unclear. However, experts say that the president's emphasis on loyalty rather than opposition, the confidence he derives from military successes, and Iran's own weakness are significant factors. In Trump's current cabinet, there is no one who openly takes a hawkish stance against Iran, like the neo-conservatives in the Bush administration who advocated a preemptive strike against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Instead, the decision to go to war appears to have been largely made by Trump in consultation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; this view is voiced by foreign policy experts and sources familiar with administration planning. While some cabinet members reportedly expressed concerns about the risks, no organized opposition emerged. Past presidents have consulted experts on the National Security Council to assess military and diplomatic options in the run-up to conflict. Trump, however, reduced the number of personnel on the National Security Council and appointed Marco Rubio to the dual role of both Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. William Howell, Dean of the School of Government and Policy at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of a book on wartime presidents, says this underscores the administration's view of policy-making as largely a matter of loyalty and implementation. "It's about loyalty to the individual," he says. "There's not much of the kind of thing that comes from sustained deliberation—long-term thinking, information gathering, long-term planning." Recommended Which countries grant citizenship by birth? Here's a comparison with the US. Mr. Trump has always left the door open for political allies with differing views on Iran and the use of US military force. These include figures ranging from Tucker Carlson, who is openly skeptical of Israel and foreign wars, to veteran Republican hawkish South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. Carlson reportedly visited the White House several times in the weeks leading up to the attacks on Iran. Graham, defending his position, told Politico that he lobbied Trump for months to overthrow Iran's "terrorist regime." (Politico also reported, citing a source familiar with the inside conversations, that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee supported military action against Iran.) Khalid Elfiqi/AP/File Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi listens during a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in Cairo on September 9, 2025. Araghchi said on March 4 that President Donald Trump had "betrayed" diplomacy by attacking Iran. In the realm of diplomacy, Mr. Trump adopted an unconventional approach: Following the US airstrikes on Iran last June, he tasked Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, rather than seasoned diplomats, with conducting negotiations with Iran to dismantle its remaining nuclear program. These talks, mediated by Oman, failed to reach an agreement. Mr. Witkoff, a New York real estate investor, and Mr. Kushner, the president's son-in-law and heir to a New York real estate family, also participated in peace talks concerning Gaza, with Mr. Witkoff tasked with ending the war in Ukraine. Some view the recent failures in peace talks as a pretext for the US and Israel to buy time for military preparations. Trump has stated that he wants to give diplomacy a chance and that war is a last resort. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was Iran's representative in the talks.