Trump directed airstrikes in seven countries in 2025

President Trump’s administration oversaw US military strikes in seven countries across the world in 2025, pursuing a Ronald Reagan-inspired agenda of “peace through strength” with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at the helm.

From the sands of the Middle East to the high seas off Venezuela’s coast, Trump’s first year of his second term in the White House saw an unprecedented series of strikes that belie his self-styled image as a “peace president.”

Renamed the “Department of War” from “Department of Defense” under Trump, the Pentagon this year has carried out strikes on Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Syria, Nigeria, Venezuela and the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea.

Here’s a round-up of US military action in 2025.

Africa

The US conducted and supported strikes against ISIS- and al Qaeda-linked groups, particularly in Somalia, where the first airstrikes of Trump’s second administration took place on Feb. 1.

American commanders described the missions as precision counterterrorism operations carried out with local governments, aimed at degrading militant leadership and training camps.

Some strikes prompted warnings to civilians to avoid unexploded ordnance — underscoring the risks in regions already wracked by insurgency.

The administration wrapped up its year of strikes on the continent with Christmas Day attacks on Nigeria, with the military hitting ISIS terrorists targeting Christians in Western Africa.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” the president continued.

Middle East

The year’s most sustained US air campaign came in Yemen, where American warplanes and ships repeatedly struck Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The Pentagon said the strikes targeted missiles, drones, radar systems and launch sites after the Houthis ramped up attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea during the conflict in the Middle East.

American forces also carried out regular airstrikes and raids in Syria and Iraq, targeting Islamic State fighters and infrastructure, according to US Central Command.

The missions included airstrikes on ISIS hideouts, raids with partner forces in the region and retaliatory operations following threats to US troops in the Middle East.

But the most dramatic and influential US targeting in the region occurred on June 22, when the Pentagon sent warplanes to wipe out Tehran’s nuclear program following Israel’s Operation Rising Lion bombing campaign.

The Iran strikes — dubbed “Operation Midnight Hammer” — set back Tehran’s nuclear program by years, the Pentagon said, and served as the United States’ first operational use of its 30,000-pound “bunker buster” munitions.

Western Hemisphere

Trump wrapped up 2025 with a dramatic and unprecedented uptick in US military action in the Western Hemisphere — something that is expected to continue into the new year.

Far from traditional battlefields, US forces first took the fight in the Western hemisphere to the high sea, with military assets used in operations targeting drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

The 35 known boat strikes have killed at least 115 people in 2025. The maritime attacks were meant to disrupt transnational criminal networks tied to violence and instability, as well as to place pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s narcoterrorist regime that has caused millions to flee to the US and supported Iranian proxy group Hezbollah in the South American country.

The US also conducted strikes on land in Venezuela late last month, but those were carried out by the CIA, rather than the military