Trump keeps low profile after ordering Iran strikes

Caption

Rescue workers evacuate an elderly woman at the scene of an Iranian missile strike in Beer Sheva on March 2, 2026. [AFP]

Hunkered down at his luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, US President Donald Trump kept an unusually low profile after announcing the start of major military strikes on Iran.

Rather than delivering a traditional Oval Office address, he opted for an eight-minute video posted on his Truth Social platform at 2.30am on Saturday. In the clip, Trump stood at a podium wearing a white baseball cap. It was the last the public saw of the commander-in-chief until another short video on Sunday afternoon.

On his return to Washington, the normally outspoken president declined to take questions from reporters aboard Air Force One to explain the rationale for the military action. When he finally addressed the media upon arriving at the White House, his remarks were not about the strikes. “Unbelievable statues, come and look at them,” he said, admiring new figures in the Rose Garden.

Trump’s administration has also remained largely silent since the launch of Operation “Epic Fury”, prompting questions about how it intends to justify what is being described as the largest US intervention in the Middle East in two decades. There were no public statements from the heads of the Pentagon or the State Department, and no cabinet members have defended the operation.

Instead, details emerged through brief and at times contradictory telephone interviews Trump gave to US media outlets. He alternately suggested the conflict could last four or five weeks, and gave mixed messages about potential leadership changes in Tehran.

The White House denied reports that he would deliver a formal televised address, similar to the one given by Barack Obama after the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011. Photographs later released showed Trump at Mar-a-Lago in a makeshift situation room with advisers. He also attended Republican fundraising dinners, with aides describing one event as “more important than ever”.