America is 11 days into a war with Iran and President Donald Trump is still struggling to explain why this conflict is happening or when it will end.
Trump answers almost every question about the consequences of his war of choice with a shrug.
At least seven U.S. military members are dead after Iranian counterattacks? “That’s the way it is,” Trump said on March 1 in a video he posted to social media.
Gasoline prices that he promised to reduce are now soaring due to the Middle East conflict? That’s “a very small price to pay,” Trump claimed in a March 8 social media post.
Russia is helping Iran target U.S. military personnel and assets in the Middle East? Trump, on March 7, told journalists that, if Russia is helping Iran, then “it’s not helping them much.”
Trump’s war is certainly helping Russia.
Oil prices have surged thanks to American and Israeli strikes on Iran and that country’s counterstrikes around the region, prompting a stall on tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. That means more money for Russia’s exported oil, which will fund the war it started in Ukraine.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 2025.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on March 5 announced a 30-day waiver on U.S. sanctions to allow Russia to sell more oil to India, in an effort to lower the increasing cost of gasoline in this country.
To recap: Trump starts a war, then Iran retaliates with Russia’s help, driving up the price of gas, and America responds by helping Russia sell more oil, so Russia can keep killing Ukrainians.
I’m starting to think the Norwegian Nobel Committee made the right call in October when it shot down Trump’s desperate pleas to win a Peace Prize.
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Trump’s war with Iran is looking more Russia-first
The Washington Post on March 6 first reported that Russia had been helping Iran locate U.S. warships and aircraft in the Middle East. Trump’s entire team offered a collective shrug to that news, while Trump himself has prioritized emphasizing what a great relationship he has with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“He was very impressed with what he saw because nobody’s ever seen anything quite like it,” Trump told journalists in a March 9 news conference after he spoke with Putin.
Let me see if I have this straight: Russia is helping Iran target America’s military, but Trump’s focus is on how Putin is impressed with his actions in Iran.
A conventional U.S. presidential administration would respond in one of two ways when, after launching an attack on one longtime geopolitical foe, hearing credible reports that another longtime geopolitical foe was working against us in that fight. They would deny the reports. Or they would demand an end to that assistance.
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Not Team Trump, which can’t muster much concern about Russia helping Iran
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a “60 Minutes” interview aired March 8 by CBS News, was asked about Russia’s involvement and said, “We’re not concerned about that.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on March 6 told Fox News, “It does not really matter” if Russia is helping Iran, adding later when pressed by journalists that any Russian help “is not making a difference.”
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, told journalists on March 7 that he had “strongly” communicated to the Russians about helping Iran. Asked if he believed that help was happening, he offered only this: “I hope they’re not.”
Americans don’t want this war with Iran
President Donald Trump announces on Feb. 28, 2026, that the United States and Israel have started military strikes on Iran.
I don’t think that sort of indifference will play well with an American public that clearly didn’t want this war.
A Quinnipiac University Poll released March 9 found that 53% of registered voters oppose the war, while 55% didn’t see Iran as an imminent military threat to our country, and 62% said Trump has not offered a clear explanation for the war. And three out of four voters in that poll said they were concerned that the war will increase gas prices.
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But guess who’s here to help! A Kremlin spokesperson on March 10 said Putin has offered to mediate the conflict between Iran and the United States.
Putin ‒ the same autocratic leader benefiting from the conflict, which is funding his war in Ukraine, where he has consistently outmaneuvered Trump’s efforts to mediate an end to that conflict.
That’s like putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department. Putin has every reason to let it all burn.
Hegseth, in a March 10 Pentagon news conference, was asked by a right-wing website contributor if Russia will be “aiding” America in the Iranian conflict.
Hegseth said he heard that Trump’s call with Putin included “a recognition that, as it pertains to this conflict, they should not be involved.”
He came so close to getting it. Putin has zero motivation to help America end its war on Iran, because Russia is cashing in on the conflict.
What Hegseth – and Trump and all the rest – should have said instead is that Russia must immediately stop helping Iran target America’s military in the Middle East. They won’t. So we must ask why.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Iran, Russia target US while Trump fixates on Putin’s praise | Opinion