No modern American president has directed military assaults in as many countries in such a short span of time as Donald Trump, who has authorized attacks in eight nations since returning to office, according to a detailed account published by TIME, as "Hvylya" reports.
Three of those countries have never before been directly targeted by U.S. forces. In 2025 alone, Trump approved more individual airstrikes than his predecessor did over four years. The scope of operations ranges from a major campaign against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen to naval attacks on Venezuelan vessels suspected of drug trafficking.
In January, American special-operations forces launched a predawn assault in Caracas that ended with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, left more than a hundred dead, and placed the authoritarian leader on trial in New York. Just days after the onslaught against Tehran, the U.S. took part in joint military operations in Ecuador targeting "designated terrorist organizations." The administration has also fixed its sights on Cuba, where President Miguel Diaz-Canel has ramped up military exercises amid reports that Trump has asked advisers to devise plans to end the island's six-decade communist rule.
The trajectory marks a dramatic reversal for a president who campaigned as an opponent of foreign entanglements. Trump forged his "America First" identity amid the fatigue and disillusionment from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He promised to end wars, not start them. Instead, he has deployed military force in what TIME describes as "increasingly dizzying ways."
The June 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran's nuclear sites fed Trump's sense of momentum and created a template: apply overwhelming force, declare victory, then offer negotiation from a position of dominance. By year's end, Trump was no longer speaking of war as something to avoid at all costs, but as an instrument to achieve his ends. The February 2026 Operation Epic Fury - the decapitation strike that killed Khamenei - represents the most dramatic escalation yet.
Also read: Colby's Grand Design: How NATO 3.0, the Iran War, and a Submarine Torpedo Fit Into One Strategy