Trump's Trials - Trump says more American troops will 'likely' die in war against Iran

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

President Trump in a video address posted online lays out few details about the U.S.'s objectives in its war with Iran, but says more U.S. service members may die before the conflict is over.Then, NPR's Leila Fadel asks Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, about President Trump's unilateral authorization to strike Iran.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. President Trump promised every single American that he would make America safe again. Every single day in the Oval Office, the president looks at us and says, why haven't we done more? This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest.

from NPR. I'm Leila Faldi. And I'm Ame Martinez. The U.S. military says Kuwait shot down three U.S. fighter jets in an apparent friendly fire incident and that all crew members survived. Iranian state media earlier said Iran claims responsibility for one down F-15. It's part of the widening U.S. and Israeli war against Iran launched over the weekend. President Trump is warning Americans that more U.S. lives will likely be lost after three service members were killed. We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen. And sadly, there will likely be more.

Before it ends, that's the way it is. Likely be more. That's from a six-minute video Trump posted online on Sunday, where Trump also said the U.S. would, quote, avenge their deaths. Coming up, we'll speak with the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee about Trump's unilateral decision to go to war without congressional authorization. First, the latest information. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez is covering the conflict. Franco, what else did President Trump say? Yeah, President Trump says hundreds of targets in Iran have been hit, including the Revolutionary Guard facilities and Iranian air defense systems. And he added that nine naval ships

have been destroyed as well as Iran's naval building. And he's boasting that Iranians around the world are cheering the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Hamenei. This wretched and vile man had the blood of hundreds and even thousands of Americans on his hands and was responsible for the slaughter of countless thousands of innocent people all across many countries. It's unclear what thousands of American lives Trump is referring to here, but there are just so many questions. Now, the White House says Iran,

wants to talk and that Trump will speak with them. What does that mean? Yeah, I mean, the White House told NPR that Iran wants to restart negotiations and that Trump will eventually speak with whoever is in charge. But atop Iran security officials says on X that they won't negotiate. And if the White House does reopen talk, it does raise questions about what that means, you know, does the regime get to stay in control, even if it's badly damaged? Hasn't Trump been calling on Iranians to take over the government themselves? Yeah, I mean, exactly. I mean, he did that again yesterday, telling them to, quote, seize this moment to be brave, to be heroic. America is with you. I made a promise to you, and I fulfilled that promise. The rest will be up to you, but we'll be there to help.

And he again called on the police and Revolutionary Guard to lay down their weapons. He offered immunity. And he says they should join protesters. All right. So lots of questions then about what comes next. But we really haven't seen much. of Trump since the war started? Not at all. I mean, the only time we've seen him is getting on and off the plane yesterday, going into the building, and he didn't take questions. I mean, it's been also controlled. I mean, except for some brief phone calls with select media, it's been largely social media posts and these two video addresses. He hasn't addressed the American people in person or answered questions from the press pool, and he hasn't gotten Congress involved. I mean, Democrats and some Republicans are unhappy that he didn't seek congressional authorization.

for a war. And some want to vote to restrain Trump. And that's going to be a big debate this week. All right. Now, has the president given any more insight, though, into how long this whole thing will last? Yeah, as we heard, he's, you know, saying combat operations will continue until U.S. objectives are met. And he has said that could be a week. But he's also told other media outlets, like the New York Times, that it could be four to five weeks. Really, he has said that there are strong objectives, that the U.S. has strong objectives. But again, he hasn't explained what those specific objectives are. And without knowing what specifically the U.S. hopes to accomplish A, I mean, it's really hard to predict how long any of this will last.

That's a White House correspondent, Franco Ordonez. Franco, Franco, thank you very much. Thank you, A. Let's turn now to a voice from Congress, which Trump did not consult before launching the war on Iran with Israel. Congressman Adam Smith is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. And he joins me now. Congressman, welcome back to the program. Yeah, well, thanks for having me on. Good morning. Good morning. Now, President Trump said the attack on Iran was necessary due to a, quote, imminent threat. Was there anything in the briefing he gave lawmakers over the weekend, and that includes you, that showed there was, in fact, an imminent threat? No, I mean, and that's just completely dishonest. I mean, he hasn't even offered any facts to back that up. There's no evidence whatsoever that Iran was preparing to attack us, Israel, or frankly, anybody. And the Trump administration still has not given us any sort of detailed update on where Iran's nuclear program was at. They've bounced all over the map

on where it's at, but we have not seen any specific intelligence. So no, I mean, I don't think there's any credible claim that there was an imminent threat coming from Iran, which is not to say that Iran isn't a problem, but there certainly was no imminent threat to the U.S. or even any of our allies or partners. So what did you learn in that briefing? Well, first of all, the briefing you're referring to was for staff yesterday. So I was not actually in the brief. I spoke to my staff about it today at 1 o'clock Pacific time. We're going to have a secure brief for the chairs and rankings of key committees with Hague, Seth, Rubio, et cetera. So we'll see what we learned there.

But for the most part, I mean, everything that's been put out publicly, you've summed up quite well in your report before this. You know, what are our objectives? We do not know. They keep saying we have them and we're going to keep fighting until we achieve them. But they have not said what they are. And that is just incredibly irresponsible. the level of destruction that is currently going on in the Middle East and the number of American lives that have been placed at risk, as well, of course, of the lives of people in more than a

half dozen countries. All right. And President Trump has talked about more lives possibly being lost. Is bypassing Congress and declaring war as Trump did legal? Ah, well, no, it's not. Look, I mean, you've got to think about this. There's two sets of problems here. One is the way he did it, and two is what's going on. Both are huge problems. No president has ever gone to war. You know, had this, I mean, we've launched a full-scale war in the Middle East, and the president has not made his case to the American people. He's not made his case to Congress.

He's not asked for congressional support. That's illegal, but it is also directly contrary to how a constitutional republic is supposed to function. This is more of an autocratic monarchical decision. Well, he just so decided, I'm going to war and did it without getting that approval or even making the case. But then even if he had done all that the right way, we still have major problems with the war itself. What recourse, though, does Congress have? I mean, Republican leaders in Congress have expressed support for the attack on Iran. There are some dissenting voices,

but very few among the Republicans. Polling shows this isn't popular with most Americans, including Americans who heard Trump's campaign promise of no forever wars. But what can Congress do if there isn't agreement? Yeah, there's two ways to look at that. First of all, Congress can, theoretically, if we have the votes, do a lot of things. Certainly, we can require the president to stop the war until he gets congressional approval. We could also cut off the money. We could pass laws that say no appropriations go forward. Right, but do you have the votes?

Well, that's why I said. There's two things. You got ahead of me on the second one. The second one is the fact that the Republican Congress, under Mike Johnson and John Thune, have simply abdicated all responsibility as the legislative branch and as an Article 1 part of our Constitution. This has been happening now ever since Trump got in the White House. You know, Mike Johnson has decided that Congress will simply do whatever Trump wants without questioning them. And so that is a major, major problem. You know, Congress is supposed to stand up

and for itself and for the country. Yes, you can agree with the president sometimes, but you're also supposed to be able to independently disagree with them, this Congress isn't doing that. The Republicans say whatever Trump wants. And by the way, if he wants one thing, one moment, yes. If he wants the exact opposite thing, the next moment, then they also say yes to that. So we need to keep putting pressure on Congress to change that. Representative Adam Smith of Washington State is the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman, thank you for your time. Thank you for giving me the chance. We ask multiple Republican lawmakers to join us. Those invitations remain open.

Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.