But when the unexpected wartime commander in chief declared that \u201cwe\u2019ve won\u201d his surprise war with Iran that he announced in the middle of the night on Feb. 28, no one cheered. In fact, there were no sounds at all inside the Verst Logistics Order Fulfillment Center in Hebron.<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t even tepid applause.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The crowd had been in a cheering mood just seconds earlier, first when the MAGA movement\u2019s founder touted a $1.5 billion uranium enrichment facility four-hours-and-change south in Paducah, Ky., nor when he, in true showman mode, dropped the official name of the Iran mission, saying \u201cOperation Epic Fury<\/a>\u201d dramatically and with a raised voice.<\/p>\n But he then conjured George W. Bush\u2019s Navy ship deck \u201cMission Accomplished\u201d moment just 12 days into the Iran war \u2014 and with the Islamic Republic government still intact. \u201cIs that a great name? Well, it\u2019s only good if you win. You know, you can only do, and we\u2019ve won. Let me tell you, we\u2019ve won,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the, in the first hour, it was over. We won.\u201d<\/p>\n But no matter how many times Trump made the questionable claim, there was only silence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Such surreal scenes and comments this week were a reason why some Democratic senators said Team Trump went to war with no in-depth planning \u2014 including on the key question of how they would secure Tehran\u2019s stores of enriched uranium. The perhaps-too-early victory declaration was one of many questionable statements about the Iran operation<\/a> uttered this week by Trump and his inner circle that created their own collective kind of fog of war.<\/p>\n While the scene in Kentucky, a commonwealth that Trump won three times, was audible, other examples were visual.<\/p>\n After Air Force One ferried him back to a rainy Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, D.C., on Wednesday evening, Trump described the Strait of Hormuz as \u201cin great shape.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve knocked out all of their boats. They have some missiles, but not very many. I think we\u2019re in very good, we\u2019re in very good shape,\u201d he said over the loud noise of the specially modified Boeing 747-200B aircraft.<\/p>\n But images and videos had at that point already surfaced of oil tankers ablaze<\/a> in the key oil and cargo shipment waterway after being targeted by the Iranian military.<\/p>\n \u2018When do we stop?\u2019<\/p>\n After his supporters in the Bluegrass State sat on their hands at his talk of a \u201cwin\u201d in Persia, Trump a few hours later was back to speaking about victory in Iran as a yet-to-occur objective.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main thing is we have to win this then, win it quickly, but win it, and there are many people, [I was] just watching some of the news,\u201d said Trump, a noted cable news junkie. \u201cMost people say it\u2019s already been won. It\u2019s just a question of when, when do we stop?\u201d<\/p>\n But several Senate Democrats, after being briefed again by senior administration officials involved in the war, this week said they detected very little of the kind of planning that might lead to a credible presidential declaration of victory this soon.<\/p>\n \u201cNot even close,\u201d New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim, a former senior civilian adviser to commanders in Afghanistan, told CQ Roll Call on Wednesday when asked whether he was satisfied with administration officials\u2019 descriptions of their planning. And that included the question of any plan for what to do about Iran\u2019s remaining enriched uranium.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t heard anything remotely like that. And honestly, sometimes when they talk to us, they don\u2019t even mention the nuclear capabilities as a top goal. Sometimes it\u2019s on the list,\u201d he said in a brief interview. \u201cThere\u2019s no consistency whatsoever. And as a result, I find this all the more concerning, especially when they haven\u2019t ruled out boots on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2266027994-1.jpg\")
President Donald Trump speaks to the press after landing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday evening. (Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n