What Plans Does the US Have for 'Nation Building' in Iran?

News media across the political spectrum weighed Republicans' comments this week.

For Context: Nation building is "a concerted project to construct or rebuild a nation-state and its underlying institutions and sense of community," according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. "The objective of nation building can be to create a cohesive nation-state that never existed or that never properly functioned or to rebuild one that has collapsed or has been destroyed." US-Israel forces killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28. Track the latest updates to the Iran War and US intervention here.

Key Quotes: 

• President Donald Trump said on Monday, "I think the [Iran] war is very complete." However, the War Department posted that same day, "We have Only Just Begun to Fight." In response to an ABC News (Lean Left bias) journalist asking, "So, which is it and how long should Americans be preparing for this war to last for?" Trump said, "I think you can say both… It's the beginning of building a new country, but they certainly, they have no navy, they have no air force, they have no anti-aircraft equipment."
• On Tuesday, War Secretary Pete Hegseth asserted, "This is not endless nation-building… It's not even close," though he also suggested that the war may drag out to some degree. He said, "The president has set a very specific mission to accomplish, and our job is to unrelentingly deliver that… It's not for me to posit whether it's the beginning, the middle or the end."
• House Speaker Mike Johnson similarly said on Tuesday, "We are the defenders of freedom and liberty, and freedom-loving people all around the world benefit from a strong America… Does that mean that we should be intervening everywhere around the world and nation-building and doing all these other endeavors? No, because we don't have the resources or the appetite to do that. That's not our responsibility."

How The Media Covered It: News media on the right largely omitted coverage, while media on the left often slanted the contrast in Republicans' comments. The Federalist (Right) highlighted the contrast between Trump and the War Department's comments; however, its coverage led with Hegseth's assertion against nation building – a bias by viewpoint placement. USA Today (Lean Left) focused instead on Johnson, saying he "split from Trump" and cast a "stark contrast" to the president's comments. ABC also emphasized "mixed messaging from the administration" and said Hegseth "notably declined to give a further assessment on how much longer the military campaign will last."

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