Here are the seven countries Trump has bombed in his first year back in office
The president promised he was 'not going to start wars' during his 2024 campaign
“I’m not going to start wars, I’m going to stop wars,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in his November 2024 victory speech.
It was one of the pivotal promises made during his presidential campaign.
For a time, it appeared he was working toward fulfilling that promise.
Trump heavily pushed for last October’s ceasefire, which ended the destructive and internationally condemned Israeli war on Gaza, a specific pledge he made during his campaign.
He pushed for a ceasefire between Pakistan and India in May and brokered a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia in August over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
He tried twice, and is still trying, to end the war in Ukraine.
But by January 2026, the president has bombed seven countries over the span of a year, including most recently, Venezuela.
Here are those seven:
Venezuela
On Saturday, Trump announced on Truth Social that American forces carried out “successful strikes” in Caracas, targeting defense capabilities and capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, charging them with narcoterrorism in New York the following day.
He shared a video showing dozens of strikes hitting targets in the capital.
On Monday, a Venezuelan defense official told the New York Times that at least 80 people, including civilians and security forces, were killed in the attack.
At a press conference in Mar-a-Lago, Trump said the U.S. would administer the resource-rich South American country “for a period of time.”
He added that “we’re in the oil business,” claiming the U.S. would sell Venezuela’s oil to other countries.
The strikes followed months of attacks on alleged drug vessels off Venezuela’s coast, with U.S. officials accusing the government of smuggling illicit drugs into the country.
American forces also struck a Venezuelan port in December, just one week before Saturday’s attacks.
Nigeria
Trump ordered “powerful and deadly” strikes in Nigeria’s northwestern Sokoto state on Christmas Day, targeting what the U.S. claimed were ISIS-affiliated groups.
While no official death toll has been released, the strikes followed weeks of diplomatic pressure from Washington urging Abuja to address a so-called “Christian genocide” in the region.
Northern Nigeria has faced decades of instability, with insurgent violence killing nearly 60,000 Muslims and 125,000 Christians since 2009, according to a Catholic monitoring group.
The strikes marked the first known U.S. military action in Nigeria, according to Al Jazeera.
Iraq
Trump ordered airstrikes against ISIS targets across Iraq throughout March 2025, particularly in al-Anbar province, where the group’s second-in-command was killed, according to U.S. Central Command.
The president praised the strikes, writing “Today, the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed,” on Truth Social, adding they were carried out “in coordination” with Iraqi and Kurdish authorities.
ISIS rose to global prominence in 2014 after seizing large parts of Iraq and Syria.
Though the group now holds virtually no territory as of 2026, it continues operating through small cells and pockets across the region.
Somalia
At least 111 U.S. strikes targeted ISIS-Somalia positions across 2025 in the Horn of Africa nation.
Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda offshoot that pledged allegiance to ISIS in October, has fueled further instability in a country plagued by conflict since the 1990s.
Roughly 7,289 people were killed by militant groups last year, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
While Washington has not disclosed civilian casualties, at least 11 civilians, including seven children, were killed in December strikes, according to Drop Site News.
Iran
Trump ordered U.S. forces to strike Iran’s Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan nuclear sites on June 22 during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel.
Despite brokering a ceasefire the same day, he justified the strikes in a televised address, claiming Iran was nearing “weapons grade” nuclear capability.
No casualties were reported from the American strikes.
However, more than 1,100 Iranians and 28 Israelis were killed during the short war, according to both governments.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later said the facilities were severely damaged.
Yemen
Yemen was Trump’s most-bombed country in 2025, with strikes largely targeting the northeastern regions controlled by the Houthis.
From 2023 to 2025, the Houthis attacked mostly Israeli-linked trade vessels in the Red Sea, citing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
U.S. strikes began under Biden but intensified under Trump, particularly during Operation Rough Rider in March, targeting weapons and air defenses.
On May 6, Trump declared a ceasefire with the Houthis, brokered by Oman.
The Houthis estimated around 500 fighters were killed, while Yemen’s Health Ministry reported at least 123 killed and 247 wounded.
Syria
Seventy ISIS targets across Syria were struck on December 19 during Operation Hawk Eye, following the killing of two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter, according to CENTCOM.
Although ISIS did not claim responsibility for the killings, it remains active in eastern Syria, where less than 1,000 U.S. troops remain stationed by the Trump administration, according to the Pentagon.