Donald Trump has rolled out a bizarre and incoherent new justification for launching a war against Iran, claiming that sites struck by the United States were somehow both nuclear facilities and drug factories. The explanation arrived as Trump praised a previous bombing operation while campaigning ahead of the midterm elections.

At a Thursday night midterm rally in Durant, Oklahoma, the 80 year old president hyped Operation Midnight Hammer. The June 2025 military action involved airstrikes targeting three of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Trump claimed the bombing raid had “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear capabilities. Yet he waged war against Iran several months later on the stated basis of preventing the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

During the rally, Trump again claimed that he “wiped out” Iran’s nuclear facilities last June. He said the destruction happened during “one night with those beautiful B-2 bombers.”

“They went from Missouri, and then at 1 o’clock in the morning with no moon, dark as can be, these unbelievable machines led by the most incredible pilots in the world, they unloaded every single bomb, went right down air shoots into this, errr, drug factories, really,” Trump said.

The president then elaborated on his new description of the targets. Rather than making the explanation clearer, his account tangled nuclear activity and drug production together.

“That’s what they were doing. They were nuclear and drug,” he added. “They were doing drugs, but they were doing the nuclear, but these drug factories slash nuclear factories were hit so hard.”

Trump has never previously suggested that the purpose of launching military action against Iran was to target its “drug factories.” His latest explanation therefore added a strange new element to his public case for the conflict.

The war with Iran has continued for more than seven months, with no end in sight. Even so, Trump chose to put the conflict back at the center of his remarks during a politically crucial stretch before the midterms.

That decision carries obvious political danger for the president and the Republican Party. The conflict is deeply unpopular with the public and could potentially doom the GOP in the Nov. 3 elections.

A CNN/SSRS poll released last month found that 73% of U.S. adults disapproved of the war. The conflict has also sent gas and diesel prices soaring, adding financial strain to the public opposition measured by the poll.

The same survey found broad doubt about Trump’s management of the Iran situation. A total of 75% of Americans said they did not believe he had a clear path for dealing with it.

The skepticism was even greater when Americans were asked about the war’s broader costs. The poll found that 76% did not believe the conflict was worth the toll on American lives or the financial hardships it has caused.

Trump nevertheless continued praising the war’s apparent achievements from the rally stage. His remarks focused on what he portrayed as the success of the strikes rather than the overwhelming public rejection reflected in the polling.

“Other presidents should have done this a long time before I came along,” Trump said. “Because if they had nuclear weapons, they would use them, and they’d use them quickly.”

The remarks left Trump promoting a war that most Americans surveyed oppose while offering a new justification involving supposed drug factories.