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President Donald Trump used his first live address to Americans about the war in Iran to project certainty, saying in a Wednesday prime-time speech from the White House that the United States had “beaten and completely decimated Iran.” He added that Iran was “decimated both militarily and economically and in every other way,” and claimed, “Their radar is 100% annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force.”
But as the war entered its sixth week, the account of events from around the conflict underscored the kinds of uncertainty Trump’s messaging appeared to dismiss. An American fighter jet was shot down in Iran on Friday, prompting a search operation that ended with the rescue of one crew member, according to the reporting.
In a second reminder of battlefield risk, Iranian state media reported that another U.S. aircraft was hit by Iranian air defenses days after Trump said Iran had “no anti-aircraft equipment.” The contrast between Trump’s assertions and the subsequent reports set up a mismatch between public confidence and the operational realities of war, the story said.
The developments also came as allies and political figures faced the question of how much of the conflict the United States was conducting with partners versus on its own. The reporting described Trump’s go-it-alone style as something he had used before, including in business and politics, and said the war with Iran—undertaken with Israel and without consulting other allies or Congress—was providing a test unlike “almost nothing before.”
The story quoted Julian Zelizer, a history professor at Princeton University, saying, “You can be the most assertive, aggressive president in the world but you don’t control what happens overseas.” It described how that limitation was becoming apparent as Washington’s allies began to speak out while fighting continued.
European leaders criticized the U.S. choice to conduct the conflict without consulting partners at the outset. The reporting said French President Emmanuel Macron told that the United States “can hardly complain afterward that they are not being supported in an operation they chose to undertake alone,” adding, “This is not our operation.”
The reporting also said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to be drawn into the war despite criticism from Trump. It said France and the United Kingdom were leading efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz once the fighting ends.
Back in Washington, even some Republicans emphasized that the United States needed allies. After Trump threatened to withdraw from NATO this week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters there were not enough votes to support it, saying, “We got an awful lot of people who think that NATO is a very critical, incredibly successful post-World War II alliance,” and adding, “I think in the world today, you need allies.”
The story noted that Trump did not mention leaving NATO during his White House address. It also cited John Bolton, a former national security adviser who has since become an adversary, saying the administration made a “serious mistake” by not consulting allies before going to war, and warning European leaders not to respond with reflexive opposition out of frustration, calling that response “juvenile and petulant.”
Beyond the conflict, the same pattern of pushing ahead on his own terms is confronting constraints in court and in political process, the story said. It described Trump’s push for approval of a White House ballroom despite a judge’s ruling, his executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and restrict mail-in voting, and his appearance in Supreme Court proceedings as the administration tried to defend an executive order restricting birthright citizenship.
It further reported that the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s far-reaching tariff program, and that Democrats challenged his voting executive order in court where the justices seemed skeptical of his bid to dismantle constitutional birthright citizenship provisions. The story also said Trump’s idea of a ballroom faced uncertainty after private comments at an Easter lunch, where he was quoted saying, “I’m such a king I can’t get a ballroom approved,” and “I’m doing a lot. But I could be doing a lot more if I was a king.”