A year of strikes: US military operations surge under Trump
By Tanya Noury
Dec 31, 2025
President Donald Trump has presided over a rapid surge of U.S. military activity abroad since returning to the Oval Office.
In the first year of his second term, he has authorized a series of strikes ranging from the unprecedented use of bunker-buster bombs against Iran’s most fortified nuclear sites to a sustained counternarcotics campaign off the Venezuelan coast.
Trump, who has labeled himself a “peace president,” frames the expansion of force as a strategy of “peace through strength.”
At his inaugural ball in January, he declared, “We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end — and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
Trump added that his “proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.”
Since taking office on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump has overseen at least 626 air strikes, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project that was shared with Military Times.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2025/12/31/a-year-of-strikes-us-military-operations-surge-under-trump/
