Fact Check: Is Trump's claim Iran started the war at Mississippi rally true?

CORINTH, MISSISSIPPI: President Donald Trump’s remarks about the war with Iran have drawn attention after he reportedly claimed that Iran started the conflict during his rally in Corinth, Mississippi, on October 26, 2026. The claim raises questions about how the current war began and the role of the United States and Israel in the conflict. But is Trump’s claim accurate? Let’s fact-check.

Claim: Trump said Iran began the war with the US

Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran, not the United States, started the war between the two countries. He made the remarks at a campaign rally in Mississippi ahead of the November midterm elections.

“We didn’t start the war with Iran. Iran started the war with us,” Trump said. He pointed to Iran’s actions against the United States since 1979 and said Americans had been killed over the years. “They were killing our people for years,” he added.

Trump also mentioned Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, who was killed in a US strike during Trump’s first term. “Soleimani — you know Soleimani? I killed him on my first day,” Trump said.

Trump also criticized the ceasefire during the war with Iran, saying he considered it “sort of a waste of time.” He praised the US naval blockade and claimed Washington had “total control” of the situation.

“We have the greatest blockade probably in naval history,” Trump said at the rally. He claimed no Iranian ship had passed through the blockade for months, except during a brief ceasefire. “We did a little ceasefire, which I never liked very much. I considered sort of a waste of time, but, you know, you like to listen to professionals,” he added.

Fact Check: The claim is misleading

The claim is misleading. Trump’s statement, “We didn’t start the war with Iran. Iran started the war with us,” does not accurately describe how the 2026 conflict began.

The war, known as Operation Epic Fury by the United States and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel, began on February 28, 2026, when the two countries launched coordinated airstrikes and missile attacks on Iran.

The strikes targeted nuclear facilities, military sites, leadership compounds, and other locations. They also killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and several other senior officials.

Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against Israel, US military bases, and other targets in the region.

However, reports from multiple independent sources, including news outlets and congressional accounts, describe the US-Israeli strikes as the start of the current conflict, rather than a response to an Iranian attack that immediately preceded them.

There were also no reported Iranian first strikes on US forces that triggered the February 28 operation.

Pentagon briefings to Congress around that time indicated that intelligence officials had not identified an imminent Iranian attack on US forces that would have prompted the strikes.