Five days into the US-led war on Iran, the Trump administration has offered yet another reason for the conflict, adding to a growing list of shifting justifications
Hegseth claimed that the US had killed the head of an Iranian unit not plotted to assassinate Donald Trump(Image: AP)
New claims that the United States has killed the head of an Iranian unit accused of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump have provided the latest explanation for a war the world is still trying to understand.
According to Defence Secretary “Pistol” Pete Hegseth, the target was a senior Iranian figure linked to an alleged plot against the President. “The leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed,” he said. “Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh.”
It was delivered with his unmistakable smugness and arrived five days into a US-led war on Iran. The difficulty for the administration is that this explanation now sits alongside a steadily expanding list of other reasons the war supposedly began. What remains conspicuously absent is a single, consistent one.
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Since the first strikes were launched, the White House and senior officials have offered a shifting catalogue of justifications. None of them, including Trump himself, appears to be singing from the same hymn sheet. At times, it is not entirely clear whether there is a hymn sheet at all or if everyone simply arrived with their own playlist.
Initially, the focus was on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the need to neutralise what was described as an existential threat to regional stability. Then came the other explanations.
There were warnings that Iran might strike first. There were references to protecting Israel and US interests. There were claims about deterring Tehran’s proxy networks and restoring American credibility in the Middle East.
Now retaliation for an alleged assassination plot against Trump has joined the list. Trump himself has reinforced the impression that the conflict carries a rather personal dimension.
Speaking about the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the President summarised the decision in terms that were admirably concise.
“I got him before he got me,” he smirked. It is certainly memorable. Whether it qualifies as a comprehensive strategic doctrine for international conflict is perhaps another matter.
The remark may resonate with supporters who view geopolitics through the language of strength and retaliation – although polling since the war began suggests even some of those supporters in the United States are beginning to ask questions. Chief among them: Why did this war actually begin?
Each new appearance from officials introduces another rationale — nuclear risk, regional security, deterrence, leadership decapitation, retaliation for past plots. None of them is implausible on its own. Together they create a justification so broad it begins to resemble a menu rather than a strategy.
Pick one. Pick several. Today’s special appears to be revenge.
The confusion extends to the war’s objective. At various points, officials have described the campaign as a limited strike, an effort to degrade Iran’s military capacity or a broader attempt to reshape the regional balance of power.
It is a remarkably flexible set of goals. One could almost be forgiven for thinking the endgame is still being drafted somewhere between press briefings and cable news appearances.
Hegseth’s latest appearance captured the tone perfectly. Alongside the announcement of the assassination-plot figure’s death, he declared that the Iranian navy now “rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” describing it as “ineffective, decimated, destroyed – pick your adjective”.
He also confirmed that an American submarine had torpedoed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean – the first sinking of an enemy vessel by torpedo since the Second World War, he claimed. What nonsense. In 1982, during the Falklands War, the Royal Navy submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano with torpedoes. It’s a fairly famous moment in naval history.
But unlike the Falklands success, America’s sinking of Iran’s naval ship was captured for all to see. The imagery was vivid. The video impressive. The strategy somewhat less so.
Listening to the briefing, it occasionally felt less like a careful explanation of a complex military campaign and more like a performance designed to reinforce a particular image of presidential strength.
The intended audience, at times, seems rather narrow. At times, it feels like he is just speaking to Trump.
But five days into a war that has already altered the Middle East’s strategic landscape, the central questions remain unanswered. The reasons continue to shift. The objectives move with them. The endgame remains unclear.
And the world is left piecing together a rationale from a growing collection of explanations – of which the assassination plot is merely the latest addition.
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