Trump, ‘president of peace’, ordered 573 US military strikes in one year — Biden 494 in 4 years

Under US President Donald Trump’s second term, the United States has conducted more unilateral strikes on foreign soil in one year than his predecessor, Joe Biden, did in his entire four-year term. The figure to support the argument was shared by the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project and was reviewed by Newsweek, reflecting how turbulent Trump’s first year has been for the world order.

As per the report, the US carried out 573 air and drone strikes between January 20, 2025, and January 5, 2026, compared to 494 strikes in four years under the Biden administration. Trump’s tally rose to 658, if adding the strikes the US conducted alongside its coalition partners, such as Syria and Iraq, against the ISIS targets in the region.

The number of US-involved coalition strikes is fast approaching Biden’s four-year total of 694, the data showed. In the past year, the US military strikes were recorded in at least nine nations, while the death toll from the strikes has been hard to assess by the body count. According to ACLED, the second Trump administration so far has been involved in 1,008 US foreign military events resulting in an estimated 1,093 fatalities. This compares to 1,518 deaths from 1,648 events during Biden’s time in office.

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The figures included the publicly disclosed killings of over 110 alleged drug traffickers in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean, which were ordered by US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth. Meanwhile, anywhere between 40 and 100 military personnel, including Cuban security forces, may have died in this month’s US surgical strikes in Venezuela.

Houthis became the prime target

The report noted that over 80 per cent of the US strikes were directed at Yemen’s Houthis from January to December. The strikes accounted for over 530 deaths in the region. It is pertinent to know that the Red Sea crisis began during Biden’s time in the office, right from the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

“Trump’s first year of foreign strikes shows a ‘strike first, ask questions later’ strategy,” ACLED said in its analysis. “The numbers show that the Trump administration has leaned hard on rapid, high-impact military action as a first response, moving quickly and with fewer constraints than in previous years."

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Meanwhile, the White House attempted to defend the second Trump administration, insisting that Trump always picked the diplomatic route before conducting such military actions. “President Trump’s first instinct is always diplomacy, and his dealmaking expertise has helped him negotiate better trade agreements, secure a 5 per cent defence spending pledge from NATO allies, end eight wars, and more," Anna Kelly, White House Deputy Press Secretary, told Newsweek.

Why it matters

The report is coming to light just weeks after the US conducted lethal strikes over Venezuela’s key military sites in Caracas while American special operations forces captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a swift raid that critics said likely violated international law.

Currently, the US government is prosecuting both Maduro and his wife on charges of narcoterrorism and drug trafficking. Interestingly, back in 2024, Trump ran on a campaign as the “president of peace”. However, he has now been escalating threats against longtime American adversaries like Cuba & Iran, while also putting significant pressure on Denmark to relinquish control of its strategic Arctic territory, Greenland, to counter China and Russia.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Trump shrugged off international law and said he answers to nothing but his “own morality.” His White House also operated on the same lines: “The President always has a host of options at his disposal, and all of his actions have put America First while making the entire world safer,” Kelly told Newsweek in an email.