Defense Department Roasted After Posting And Then Deleting Tweet About 'Winning' Trump's Iran War That's A Self-Own For The Ages

The Defense Department is facing criticism after the official X account for the Under Secretary of War posted a tweet about the U.S. military "winning" the Iran war with a caption that undermined the sentiment before later deleting it.

The post included a graphic showing soldiers mid-operation with the words "WINNING" prominently displayed along with a caption that said:

"It's not an option."

Remember: if winning isn't an option, then losing is the only one left. That should have been clear to whoever hit "publish."

You can see the now-deleted post below.

@DoW/X

The optics also couldn't be worse.

A CBS News poll released last Sunday found that roughly 63% of Americans said they felt "very" or "somewhat" negative about the way the war with Iran is unfolding. Since the fighting began, at least 18 U.S. service members have been killed and 624 wounded, according to CNN, while the conflict has also strained American weapons stockpiles.

One social media user was wise enough to take a screenshot of the post before it disappeared into the ether.

The mockery was swift.

At a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday, President Donald Trump defended the U.S. war effort, calling it "amazing" and arguing that, unlike conflicts in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Korea, the campaign against Iran has been comparatively brief. He also claimed that "Iran is doing very poorly."

At the same time, however, Trump acknowledged that he was growing skeptical about the prospects for a negotiated settlement, saying he was "losing faith" because, in his view, Iranian officials "lie," "misrepresent," and "break their word so often."

Trump vowed to continue intensifying U.S. strikes on Iran, saying the military campaign would continue "very hard" until Tehran changed course.

Trump believes Iran will eventually be forced to concede. "We'll be hitting them very hard," he said. "At some point, they're going to say, 'We just can't take it anymore.'"