US military operations surge under Trump

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.”

Here is where the U.S. military operated overseas in 2025.

Somalia – Feb. 1 and ongoing

The first major strike in the second Trump administration targeted the Islamic State in Somalia.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the strikes aimed to degrade ISIS’ ability to “plot and conduct terrorist attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians.”

The campaign has continued in the region, representing a sustained U.S. military presence against ISIS affiliates in East Africa.

Iraq – March 13

A U.S.-led coalition strike in Iraq’s Anbar Province killed ISIS’ second-highest ranking leader, Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, and one other insurgent.

Iraq’s prime minister described al-Rifai as “one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world.”

Yemen – March 15 to May 6

In mid-March, the Trump administration began an air campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The strikes targeted command-and-control hubs, air defense systems and facilities used for manufacturing and storing advanced weapons, according to the Pentagon.

The offensive — which used JASSM long-range cruise missiles, JSOWs and Tomahawk missiles — surpassed $1 billion in costs within its first month.

The operation concluded on May 6 following an Oman-brokered ceasefire with the Houthis.

Iran – June 22

Operation Midnight Hammer deployed seven B-2 stealth bombers from Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base to strike Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities.

The bombers dropped 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordinance Penetrators on Fordo and Natanz, while a U.S. Navy submarine in the region launched more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at Isfahan.

Trump, in a primetime address, declared the mission achieved “total obliteration” of Iran’s enrichment capabilities, though Tehran disputed that assessment.

The Pentagon estimates the military strikes likely set back Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years.

Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean – Sept. 2 and ongoing

Since September, the U.S. military has waged a sustained campaign of lethal maritime strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, part of what the Trump administration says is an attempt to dismantle powerful drug cartels and stop the flow of Venezuelan narcotics into the United States.

Trump boasts that the deployment involves the “largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,” and pledged it will “only get bigger.”

At least 106 people have been killed in strikes on alleged drug-carrying vessels.

Syria – Dec. 19

Operation Hawkeye Strike was launched by Trump to avenge the deaths of two U.S. soldiers, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, and a civilian U.S. interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat, killed in a terrorist attack in Syria.

American fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery struck more than 70 suspected ISIS targets across central Syria, according to CENTCOM.

The operation was named in honor of the fallen soldiers from Iowa, the “Hawkeye State.”

Nigeria – Dec. 25

On Christmas Day, Trump announced the U.S. carried out airstrikes against ISIS in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.

The president said he acted to protect Christians who he asserts are being “mass slaughtered” by “radical Islamists,” and chose the date for symbolic reasons.

“They were going to do it earlier,” Trump said in an interview. “And I said, ‘nope, let’s give a Christmas present.’”

The operation involved more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a Navy ship in the Gulf of Guinea and was coordinated with the Nigerian military.

Venezuela – December and ongoing

The C.I.A. reportedly carried out a drone strike on a facility in Venezuela – the first known U.S. attack inside the country since the Trump administration intensified its pressure campaign against the government of Nicolás Maduro.

The strike targeted a dock along Venezuela’s coast that officials said was being used by the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua to store narcotics and potentially prepare them for shipment, according to CNN.