The language President Donald Trump has used to describe the US campaign against Iran has been extreme even by the standards of wartime presidential rhetoric. He has promised “absolutely guaranteed death” to those who resist. He has demanded “unconditional surrender.” He has said he wants to personally select Iran’s next supreme leader. And he has made these statements as the confirmed death toll in Iran climbed past 1,230 people — with no end to the bombing in sight.
The military operations driving that death toll have been relentless. American B-2 stealth bombers have struck Iran’s buried ballistic missile infrastructure with dozens of 2,000-pound penetrating munitions. A major Iranian naval warship has been hit and possibly destroyed. Israel has issued mass evacuation orders in Lebanon, displaced over one million people, and struck Hezbollah’s command structure across Beirut. The defense secretary has confirmed that US military operations are about to surge in scale.
Iran has retaliated with everything it has available. Missiles and drones have been launched at US military bases and energy infrastructure in four Gulf states. Some attacks have been intercepted; others have caused damage, including strikes on civilian buildings in Bahrain. Additional missiles have been fired at Israel. Hezbollah has maintained its rocket campaign in Lebanon and wounded Israeli soldiers near the border. The Revolutionary Guards have promised new military capabilities.
The most devastating single incident of the conflict has been the airstrike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed more than 100 students. US military investigators believe American forces were likely responsible, though a formal conclusion has not been reached. The strike has generated widespread international outrage. It has provided Iran’s government with powerful propaganda material at a moment when it urgently needs something to strengthen domestic support against the military campaign trying to break it.
Trump has not moderated his rhetoric in response to the civilian casualties or the growing international alarm. He continues to frame the campaign as a righteous effort to liberate the Iranian people from their government, promising safety to those who cooperate and destruction to those who do not. Whether those promises can reach the Iranian people through a nearly collapsed internet connection is a question his administration has not answered.