President Donald Trump’s golf outing over the weekend has ignited fierce criticism as the nation enters Day 11 of its conflict with Iran, with seven U.S. service members killed and more than 140 troops injured in the ongoing military confrontation.
The Guardian’s White House correspondent Hugo Lowell shared photos on March 8 showing the commander-in-chief waving to supporters after completing a round of golf at Trump National Doral in Miami. The images quickly went viral, drawing sharp backlash from critics questioning the president’s priorities during wartime.
The timing proved particularly inflammatory, coming just one day after Trump attended a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base for six Army reservists killed in Kuwait by an Iranian drone strike. He wore the same baseball cap to the golf course that he had worn to honor the fallen.
The controversy intensified as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on March 10 what he described as “our most intense day of strikes inside Iran — the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes.” The military escalation has taken a significant toll on American forces, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters the number of injured troops was “in the ballpark” of 150.
At a White House briefing on March 10, Leavitt addressed Trump’s shifting justifications for the military action. “The president is not making anything up,” she insisted, defending the administration’s messaging as the conflict enters its second week.
The war began February 28 when the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian officials. Iran responded with retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the region — including a strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab that killed approximately 165 people, mostly children, according to Iranian authorities. A Pentagon investigation into whether U.S. forces struck the school remains ongoing.
Adding to the administration’s challenges, Energy Secretary Chris Wright posted and then quickly deleted a claim that the U.S. Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz. The erroneous post sent oil prices tumbling before being removed. Leavitt confirmed the post was false: “The U.S. Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time, though of course that’s an option.”
The conflict has sent shockwaves through global financial markets. Oil prices skyrocketed above $100 per barrel after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows. By Tuesday, prices had retreated somewhat following Trump’s signals about potentially winding down military operations.
The weekend before the golf photos emerged, Trump delivered remarks at the Shield of the Americas Summit on March 7-8, an event focused on regional security cooperation.
Iran’s clerical body named Mojtaba Khamenei, the late supreme leader’s son, as his successor on March 8. The 56-year-old hardliner, already under U.S. sanctions, is considered more conservative than his father. Trump called him a “lightweight” and said he would not last long without American approval.
The Pentagon on March 9 identified a seventh U.S. service member killed as Army Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky. He died from wounds sustained in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on March 1. Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Hegseth attended his dignified transfer on Monday.
The administration faces mounting questions about strategy and timeline. Hegseth has declared that the U.S. is “winning” and Iran is “badly losing,” while Trump has called the war a “little excursion” that would end “very soon.” Yet the defense secretary simultaneously vowed the U.S. “will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.”
The prospect of Navy escorts for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz remains under consideration, which could help stabilize energy markets. But Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine suggested the military has not been tasked with such operations yet, and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) emerged from a classified briefing to say the administration “had no plan” for reopening the strait.
The viral golf images crystallized criticism from those who question whether the president demonstrates sufficient engagement with the serious challenges facing U.S. forces. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries captured the sentiment of many critics: “America is at war, TSA agents aren’t being paid and this guy is playing golf.”