US President Donald Trump defended the monthslong war in Iran at a midterm campaign rally at Crossroads Arena in Corinth, Mississippi, on Monday, telling the crowd: "We didn't start the war with Iran. Iran started the war with us," Press TV reported from the rally. The Associated Press, covering the same rally, reported that Trump defended the war, claimed the US had beaten Iran hard, and said the ensuing rise in gas prices was temporary.

Source: Associated Press via Europe Says

Trump further claimed Iran had developed missiles capable of striking American cities, declaring "they'd hit San Diego, they'd hit Los Angeles, they'd hit our cities too," and argued the military offensive "should've been done a long time ago," Press TV reported. He presented no evidence at the rally for the missile-range claim.

Source: Press TV

Trump also dismissed an earlier ceasefire in the conflict as something he "considered sort of a waste of time," while crediting military professionals for pursuing it, and boasted of the US naval blockade of Iran: "We have the greatest blockade probably in naval history," according to fact-check coverage of the rally published by MEAWW.

Source: MEAWW fact check

What the record shows about how the war began

The current war — called Operation Epic Fury by the United States and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel — began on February 28, 2026, when the US and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes and missile attacks on Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, military sites and leadership compounds and killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several other senior officials, MEAWW's fact check reported. Iran retaliated afterwards with missile and drone attacks against Israel, US military bases and other targets in the region.

There were no reported Iranian first strikes on US forces that triggered the February 28 operation, and Pentagon briefings to Congress around that time indicated intelligence officials had not identified an imminent Iranian attack on US forces that would have prompted the strikes, the fact check added. The rally was part of Trump's blitz through Republican-held states ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, where he campaigned for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Associated Press reported.