Trump vows to press Iran campaign despite rising US casualties

President Donald Trump is signalling that the US military operation against Iran is not nearing its end. In a video released on Sunday, he cast the war as both necessary and open-ended, promising to continue what he called a “righteous mission” until “all objectives are achieved”, while acknowledging that more American service members will likely die along the way.

The message leaned heavily on the administration’s core argument for the conflict: that Iran represents an existential danger to the United States.

“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be a dire threat to every American,” Trump said, repeating a line that had framed the lead-up to the joint US-Israeli strikes that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior figures in Tehran.

So far, however, no public evidence has been presented to support claims that Iran was on the verge of fielding a missile capable of reaching the US or producing a nuclear weapon. Tehran has consistently denied pursuing one, and expert assessments have suggested that even if it chose to do so, a deliverable weapon would still be years away. The attacks also came in the middle of ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme, adding another layer of tension to Washington’s justification.

Trump’s tone in the video was notably different from his earlier comments the same day, when he appeared to leave room for diplomacy.

“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” he told the Atlantic, referring to Iran’s “new leadership”. A White House official later confirmed that the administration was open to engagement.

That contrast — between a public wartime posture and hints of a negotiating track — underscores the uncertain direction of the conflict. Iran has already announced an interim three-member leadership council following Khamenei’s killing, and its regional retaliation has produced the first confirmed US combat deaths of the campaign.

Trump addressed those losses directly.

“As one nation, we grieve for the true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, even as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives,” he said, before adding: “And sadly, there will likely be more before it ends.” He followed that with a promise of escalation: “But America will avenge their deaths, and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilisation”.