'Complaining bitterly': Trump lashes at Obama, Democrats as Middle East tensions spiral

US President Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on Barack Obama and senior Democrats as tensions in the Middle East deepen, accusing his critics of “complaining bitterly” about US strikes on Iran simply because he ordered them.

In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump said Democrats opposed the joint US-Israeli operation not on principle but out of political spite. “Whatever I do, they will be on the opposite side,” he wrote, branding his rivals “sick” and “demented” while insisting the country was “bigger, better and stronger than ever before”.




"The Radical Left Democrats, a Party that has completely lost its way, are complaining bitterly about the very necessary and important attack, by the United States and Israel, on Iran," the POTUS wrote.

An hour earlier, he had renewed his long-running criticism of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Trump argued that had he not withdrawn from the accord during his first term, Iran would already possess a nuclear weapon. He directly blamed Obama and former president Joe Biden for what he described as a “dangerous transaction”.

"If I didn’t terminate Obama’s horrendous Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA), Iran would have had a Nuclear Weapon three years ago. That was the most dangerous transaction we have ever entered into, and had it been allowed to stand, the World would be an entirely different place right now," he wrote.

The president’s remarks come as the conflict widens across the region. Iran has fired drones and missiles at Israel, US bases and Gulf targets, while Israeli forces have struck sites in Lebanon linked to Hezbollah. Oil and gas markets have reacted sharply, with global energy prices surging amid threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

At home, Trump faces mounting questions about the scope and duration of US involvement. Speaking to the New York Post, he declined to rule out deploying ground troops if deemed necessary. “I don’t say there will be no boots on the ground,” he said, adding that such a move would “probably” not be required but remained an option.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has also avoided setting limits, saying the administration would not telegraph its military plans. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended the strikes as pre-emptive, arguing Iran posed an imminent threat following Israeli action.

While many Republican lawmakers have rallied behind the president, some figures within his “America First” base have voiced unease, warning that a prolonged campaign risks drawing the United States into another open-ended Middle East war.