‘Oh for the love of God’: Overlooked Trump post hints at ‘justification’ for major attack

President Donald Trump launched a major military operation against Iran early Saturday, citing Tehran’s refusal to renounce pursuing nuclear weapons, but critics say a social media post he made shortly after the strikes began may reveal the true “justification” for the unprecedented attack.

Dubbed Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. strikes on Iran were launched just after midnight early Saturday morning. A few hours later, Trump took to social media and made several posts, one of which, critics claim, may reveal what the president's true motivations were for the attack.

“Donald Trump had just posted on Truth Social what appears to be a justification for war with Iran, claiming Tehran tried to interfere in the 2020 and 2024 U.S. elections,” reads a social media post from the news outlet Drop Site News. “Earlier, in a speech, he said Iran posed an ‘imminent threat’ to Americans which necessitated toppling the regime.”

The social media post in question included a link to a news article from Just the News, a right-leaning online news site. In the article, the outlet reported on supposed efforts by Iran to interfere in the U.S. 2020 election on behalf of former President Joe Biden, an election that Trump has repeatedly – and falsely – claimed was “rigged” against him and “stolen.”

“Oh for the love of God,” wrote Anthony Zenkus, a Columbia University professor, in a social media post on X.

“First Venezuela, now Iran,” wrote Eva Golinger, a journalist, author and lawyer who specializes in international law, in a social media post on X. “Next they will be saying it was Cuba.”

And Fernando Antonio, a purported Florida-based attorney, argued that Trump’s potential belief that Iran may have aided Biden in the 2020 election would be used as a pretense to enact federal control over future U.S. elections.

“Here is the real reason,” Antonio wrote in a social media post on X. “Drum up imminent threat to launch a war on Iran. Use the war on Iran to create an ‘emergency.’ Lob bs claims that Iran ‘interfered’ with election to push emergency order to try to take over elections.”