By Annie Linskey, Ken Thomas and Anthony DeBarros
WASHINGTON -- At 10:05 p.m. on Wednesday, President Trump unleashed a fiery post on social media, warning Iran that the U.S. would "massively blow up" its South Pars gas field, the largest in the world, if Tehran continued to retaliate against energy infrastructure in the Middle East.
On Tuesday, he slammed the NATO alliance as "a one way street," raising fears in world capitals that he might attempt to withdraw from it. And he tore into the media last week as "truly sick and demented people" over headlines about the war that he didn't like.
Twenty days into the war, the commander in chief has used his favorite platform -- Truth Social -- to cajole allies, berate adversaries, reassure embattled Gulf states and conduct his own unique form of online diplomacy. Never before has a U.S. president, the world's most powerful figure, telegraphed his thoughts about war planning so publicly, broadcasting his decision-making and communicating his views in real time.
On March 7, he said the war was " already won," even as the U.S. ramped up bombing. Last week, he asserted that the U.S. and Israel had destroyed "100% of Iran's Military capability" while Tehran continued to counterattack. This week, he said the U.S. didn't need help from North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies after previously urging them to assist with the military operation.
Trump has posted on Truth Social nearly 90 times about Iran, Israel and other war-related topics since the start of the war on Feb. 28, a body of work that -- typical of his social-media activity -- includes videos, reposts of other people's comments and his own views, some running longer than 200 words. The topic has consumed roughly a quarter of the president's feed since the war began, according to am analysis by The Wall Street Journal. More than a dozen of the war-related messages went up between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Eastern Time.
Trump sometimes posts directly to his account. Other times, he dictates messages that staff publish on his behalf. A small group of White House aides have access to Trump's account, but none can post content without Trump's approval, according to a senior administration official. Some senior aides have occasionally encouraged him against making impulsive posts to his account, according to a person familiar with the matter.
In a sign of the importance of Trump's online activity, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt months ago had a television monitor installed above her desk to display the president's most recent Truth Social posts.
Trump's social-media dispatches have narrated the war's fast-moving developments, which have at times surprised and frustrated the president and his advisers, according to people familiar with the matter. In public and in private, Trump in recent days has railed against media coverage of the operation, expressed outrage that U.S. allies aren't doing more to help and lamented that the Strait of Hormuz hasn't yet been fully opened to allow the safe passage of oil, the people said. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said he had never heard Trump so angry as he was this week.
"There's an inconsistency between the seriousness of war and the informality of social media," said Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. "It's jarring."
The military operation is unsettling some of Trump's political allies, who worry that a sustained war could cause long-term economic disruptions and hurt Republicans in this year's midterm elections.
His messages about the war have been interspersed with posts on other topics, including one about the threat presented to Lake Michigan by Asian carp, which came up during a recent meeting with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan; an update on the approval process for his planned White House ballroom; and links to articles chronicling his deteriorating relationship with comedian Bill Maher.
Trump's use of social media has long been a fixture of his communication style, and aides insist he is using it in strategic ways. Trump's allies have long defended his social-media habit as providing an unfiltered view of his thinking.
"The American people have never had a more direct and authentic relationship with a President of the United States," White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said.
During his first term, Trump similarly used his Twitter feed as a daily megaphone. But Trump these days has made Truth Social, which he launched following his first term, his social-media outlet of choice.
At 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 28, Trump posted an eight-minute video on Truth Social in which he formally announced the joint U.S.-Israel operation in Iran, marking the start of a fierce social-media campaign to sell the public on the war.
In dozens of posts in the coming weeks, Trump argued that the U.S. military was obliterating Iranian assets and dismissed skeptics of the operation.
On Saturday, Trump demanded that "the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait" help secure the waterway amid an Iranian campaign to block the passage of oil tankers. By Tuesday, Trump had reversed course after NATO allies rejected the administration's entreaties. "[W]e no longer "need," or desire, the NATO Countries' assistance -- WE NEVER DID!" Trump wrote. He later appeared to suggest that the U.S. could walk away from providing security to allied ships.
On Wednesday night, Trump threatened to retaliate after Israel's strike on the South Pars gas field in Iran prompted Tehran to target energy infrastructure in Qatar. "I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran, but if Qatar's LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so," he wrote.
"The good news is the president is willing to engage the public in a debate and talk about the war," said Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. "The downside is the president's lack of discipline. He is splattering explanations all over the place."
Nearly every morning, the president meets in the Situation Room with a group of top advisers to review military options and get updates on the conflict, according to a senior administration official. Others attending the briefings have included Vice President JD Vance; Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; John Ratcliffe, director of the Central Intelligence Agency; and top White House aides.
The president has referred to the war as a "short-term excursion" that should wrap up within weeks. But the endgame remains elusive -- and the obstacles keep stacking up. The administration hasn't publicly articulated a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil typically flows. The strait's closure has triggered higher gasoline, diesel and oil prices.
"We've got a rough road ahead of us for the next few weeks, but it's temporary," Vance said Wednesday in Michigan, describing the increase in gas prices.
The war has been so all-consuming, some White House officials privately complained that the president needed to spend most of Tuesday holding events at the White House and on Capitol Hill with Ireland's prime minister, Micheál Martin, to mark the St. Patrick's Day holiday.
"I spent my whole day with the Irish," Trump joked, standing alongside Martin at the White House. "I should have been spending it with the Iranians."
Write to Annie Linskey at annie.linskey@wsj.com, Ken Thomas at ken.thomas@wsj.com and Anthony DeBarros at anthony.debarros@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 19, 2026 22:00 ET (02:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
