“Well, hopefully we are toward the end of the war. They want to make a deal. We'll see how that works out.
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Two Days Before the Iran War Turns Six Months Old, Trump Posts "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 2026" — and the Top Democrat on Armed Services Answers That "Not a Single Objective Has Been Achieved"
August 28, 2026
On Aug. 26, 2026, President Trump posted an image to Truth Social captioned "Mission Accomplished 2026," pairing a photograph of George W. Bush labeled "Mission Not Accomplished 2001-2021" with an image of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — a deliberate invocation of the 2003 banner that became a byword for premature victory declarations. Two days later, on Aug. 28, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran reached its six-month mark. The conflict Trump had described at the outset as a short excursion has cost at least 18 American service members' lives, injured more than 750, and consumed roughly $100 billion in appropriated funds. Iran's nuclear program has not been dismantled, the regime has not fallen — Khamenei's son Mojtaba succeeded him — and the Strait of Hormuz remains a contested flashpoint under U.S. blockade. Trump said this week he is "not in a hurry" to resume negotiations. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on Armed Services, issued a point-by-point accounting of the six war aims Trump named in February and said none had been met. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the president delusional for claiming victory. DNC Chair Ken Martin tied the war directly to the November midterms. Trump, for his part, spent the anniversary insisting the blockade is total and that Iran is the party that wants to meet.
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“Well, I think they are. Probably they are. You know, they're on the balls of their feet right now. … The Houthis called us, and they don't want to fight with us. They would much prefer not having us involved. … He's a good friend of mine, and I can just say everything's going to work out fine and dandy. It's going to be very good.
“We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice, there can only be victory.
“And we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never ever have a nuclear weapon. … We're being tested today, and we're winning that test very handily.
“The struggle against evil continued, and it will continue until Judgment Day. … We will finish this fight.
“Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism. Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that have wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11. A regime that has sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans for decades, killing thousands, including our comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan. … The United States killed their leaders, destroyed their air force, and their navy rests at the bottom of the sea.
“I don't think they're demoralized. I think they're very proud of the fact that I'm not letting Iran have a nuclear weapon.
“I don't believe in the word 'regret.' You can always question yourself a little bit. … If I had it [to] do again, I would do exactly as I did.
“I think the war is going to end immediately after the election, because they can't hold out any longer. They're desperate to try to affect the election so that we get a nice, weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon.
“The world is safer because of a degraded Iran, degraded Hamas, degraded Hezbollah and Assad is gone.
“The strait is semi-closed. It's not completely closed. Anywhere from a third to 70%, if you believe Goldman Sachs, of the oil is getting through.
“We have accomplished all of our objectives in Iran.
“The blockade was a smart play. It’s hurting the Iranians badly.
“They started this war. The president started this war without a plan, without a strategy.
“There’s no strategy here. There’s no off-ramp. There’s no longer-term plan for how we get out of this.
“We need to draw down our forces generally in the Middle East. We need to get out of endless conflict.
“Donald Trump has doubled down on 25 years of endless conflict that’s cost us $3 to $5 trillion, thousands of American lives.
“If you look at the initial mission that the Trump administration laid out, which is to degrade and eliminate Iran's military capacity, then I think the answer is unequivocally yes.
“Frankly, Kristen, it's not fair to expect some Iranian protester standing there with a rock to stand up against soldiers with machine guns.
“I believe very strongly, when people say 'Death to America,' we should take them at our word. I applaud the administration's effort to make sure that Iran has no nukes, so they cannot threaten America and our allies.
“We want to use every method, diplomatic or economic, to make sure that we keep Americans safe and we keep our young military members out of war.
“The Strait of Hormuz is open. We have control and we have the blockade. Iran’s not getting anything through. Nothing is getting through. Not one ship has gotten through.
“Treasury promised to sever every economic lifeline Tehran has left. The USA has guided 130 million barrels out over the past 14 days.
“Donald Trump and JD Vance dragged the U.S. into a deadly and costly war they clearly cannot find a way out of – at the expense of the American people who are struggling to make ends meet. Trump and Vance explicitly promised no new foreign wars, yet six months in, there is no end in sight to the conflict that has driven up prices on everything from gas to groceries. While Republicans claim they cannot bring down costs or fund affordable healthcare for everyday Americans, they continue to spend billions of dollars on a war no one wanted or asked for – and voters will remember this betrayal when they head to the polls in November.
“6 months into Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran. End the war.
“Six months later, we are still at war, the Strait of Hormuz is still held hostage.
“The President has waged this war without public support or congressional consent, and it is far past time for accountability.
“When he unilaterally launched this war, Trump promised he would destroy Iran's nuclear program, eliminate its missile and drone arsenal, dismantle its defense industrial base, wipe out its proxy networks, and topple the regime in a matter of weeks. Six months later, not a single objective has been achieved. Indeed, he has weakened our position in the Middle East and the world significantly.
“Operation Epic Failure has yet to achieve a single strategic objective.
“This act of imperial aggression has claimed thousands of innocent lives. No more war.
“Trump started a war with no plan, no mission, and no idea of the consequences, like sky-high gas prices. He's made the world more dangerous, driven up our costs, and he's put American lives at risk every step of the way.
“Mission Accomplished 2026