On Feb. 28. 2026, the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran, reportedly killing more than 500 people including Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Following the airstrikes, social media users shared a video, claiming it showed U.S. President Donald Trump promising to not start a war with Iran.
One popular X post featuring the clip read (archived), "A clip of Donald Trump from 2024 is going mega viral: 'I can tell you you're not going to have a war with Iran with me as president.'"
Users on Instagram, Facebook and others on X shared the footage alongside Trump's purported statement, or a similar version of it.
The video is authentic, meaning it was not digitally edited or the product of artificial intelligence tools. It originated from an October 2024 campaign rally, during which the president said, "You're not going to have a war with me." Neither the full rally footage nor the clip circulating online shows Trump specifically naming Iran as a country he would not start a war with.
An ABC affiliate in Atlanta posted a video of his full remarks, showing that Trump said, "I will tell you, you're not going to have a war with me and you're not going to have a third world war with me, that I can tell you" (see 1:39:57). He also suggested a war could happen in a "long shot" scenario, at 1:39:43, but he was not specifically talking about Iran.
Given the multiple caveats Trump provided while promising no wars, in the full context of the speech, and the fact he did not specifically refer to Iran, we concluded social media users miscaptioned the clip.
It is worth noting the president has repeatedly touted himself as an anti-war candidate. During his election night victory speech (at 23:51), he said, with no backtracking or caveats, "I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars" (transcript).
Full context of Trump's speech
The original footage of Trump's statement about not starting wars came from a rally he held at Madison Square Garden, New York City, on Oct. 27, 2024, before Americans elected him into office for his second term.
During the rally, the then presidential candidate was talking about the United States' steel industry before saying, "You're not going to have a war with me" (emphasis in bold and detail in brackets ours):
I saved our steel. I saved our steel plants. And I don't like Japan buying U.S. steel. U.S. steel used to be like Elon Musk, like 70 years ago — the biggest, the best company in the world. You know that, Elon? [Points offscreen]
You wouldn't know, he's too young to know. U.S. steel was the big baby. That was our big — I don't know. There's something nice about U.S. steel being the biggest as opposed to Google. It's like a different kind of a company.
But we sort of need steel in this country. Like, we're not going to go to war with me as your president, but on the long shot that we do, we don't want to say, "We need steel, can we get it from China, or can we get it from someplace else?"
You know, it's always a possibility, but I will tell you, you're not going to have a war with me, and you're not going to have a third world war with me. That I can tell you. [Cheers]
But we need steel, and I would not approve U.S. steel being bought by Japan.
The transcript above begins at 1:39:15.