For years, millions of Iranians have lived under the iron grip of the regime led by Ali Khamenei. Protest movements have been crushed, dissidents jailed, and demonstrators killed in the streets. The rage toward the ruling clerics has been real—and deep.
So when Donald Trump launched a war against Iran and declared that the United States would come to the Iranian people’s rescue, some opponents of the regime dared to hope.
Two weeks later, that hope turned into hatred.
Instead of liberation, many Iranians say they’re watching their neighborhoods, infrastructure, and cultural heritage get blasted apart by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. And the anger that once focused solely on Tehran’s rulers is now being aimed at Washington as well.
“They are also lying! Like the regime has been lying to us,” said Amir, a student at the University of Tehran. “You are all worse than each other.”
That’s not exactly the reaction Trump promised when he framed the war as a mission to help the Iranian people.
From the start, the president sold the conflict as decisive and necessary. But like so many of Trump’s grand pronouncements, the messaging has been all over the map. One moment the war is “very complete.” The next, the Pentagon is telling the world it’s “just the beginning.”
Welcome to the foreign policy doctrine of Commander-in-Chaos.
Trump has offered shifting explanations for the war—from vague claims that Iran might attack the United States to sweeping declarations about destroying the regime. His press secretary even tried to clarify the president’s reasoning by saying Trump had a “feeling” Iran was planning something dangerous—one that was supposedly “based on fact.”
Meanwhile, the consequences on the ground are real. Airstrikes have hit residential areas, fuel depots, and infrastructure that ordinary Iranians rely on to survive. One attack on the Shahran oil depot in Tehran sent thick black smoke over the city and rained toxic residue onto homes and streets.
For people who already despise the regime, the destruction is forcing an uncomfortable question: if the goal was to weaken the government, why destroy the country itself?
“I genuinely believe now they didn’t have a plan,” Amir said. “If the regime is what you want to hit… where do you draw the line? What about us?”
Some Iranians now fear the nightmare scenario: their country becoming the next Iraq.
That fear isn’t abstract. In 2003, the U.S. invasion of Iraq was sold as a liberation campaign. Instead, it unleashed years of chaos and civil war. Many Iranians now worry Trump’s impulsive war could lead them down the same path.
“My heart is so heavy,” Amir said. “Only anger and more anger. At this regime, and them.”
The destruction isn’t limited to infrastructure. Historic landmarks—including Tehran’s Golestan Palace and Isfahan’s Chehel Sotoon Palace—have reportedly suffered damage. These aren’t just buildings; they’re centuries-old symbols of Iranian culture.
“How will they rebuild a priceless part of history?” one student asked.
That question cuts to the heart of Trump’s chaotic strategy—or lack of one.
Even inside the United States, the president’s messaging has been wildly inconsistent. At one rally he declared the war effectively won in the “first hour.” Hours later, his own Pentagon posted that the fight had “only just begun.”
Military veterans and analysts say those contradictions send dangerous signals to allies and enemies alike.
In other words: nobody knows what the plan is—not the public, not Congress, not even Trump’s own administration.
Trump’s defenders like to portray unpredictability as a kind of genius. Keep everyone guessing, the theory goes, and you gain leverage.
But there’s a difference between strategic ambiguity and reckless improvisation.
Right now, Trump’s war appears to be achieving the opposite of what he promised. Instead of turning the Iranian people against their rulers, the bombs are pushing them to see the United States as just another force tearing their country apart.
And that’s the bitter irony of this entire mess. The man who claimed he would rescue Iran’s people, end up convincing them that Washington is no better than the regime they already hate.
