On Tuesday, March 3, the United States and Ecuador began coordinated military operations targeting “designated terrorist organizations,” marking another instance of growing U.S. military action under the Trump administration, which is also carrying out an extensive air campaign against Iran.
The Ecuador operation signals a major escalation in the administration’s approach to military involvement in Latin America. According to U.S. Southern Command, American forces supplied planning, intelligence, and operational assistance, while U.S. advisors worked with Ecuadorian commandos to pursue narcoterrorist groups. This is the first instance of U.S. troops participating in a land mission in the administration’s campaign against drug cartels in the region.
The mission follows closely on the heels of President Trump launching “Operation Epic Fury” against Iran — a massive U.S.-Israeli air assault that has already resulted in the deaths of six U.S. service members. The conflict erupted on February 28 after airstrikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, effectively eliminating Iran’s top leadership.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged the Ecuador mission during a briefing but offered few specifics about its scale or expected timeline. The Pentagon remained focused on the situation in Iran, where growing questions persist about the administration’s aims and planned exit strategy.
In Iran, the toll has been devastating. On March 1, six U.S. soldiers died when an Iranian drone hit a tactical operations center at a commercial port in Kuwait. All belonged to the Army Reserve’s 103rd Sustainment Command. Additionally, Kuwaiti air defenses accidentally shot down three U.S. F-15E jets in a friendly fire incident, though all six aircrew members survived after ejecting.
At a Pentagon briefing Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth adopted a combative stance. “We can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need to,” he asserted, revealing that a U.S. submarine had destroyed an Iranian warship with a torpedo.
The conflict took a horrific turn when a strike hit a girls’ elementary school in Minab, in southern Iran. Iranian officials say 165 people were killed, most of them girls aged 7 to 12. UNESCO denounced the strike as “a grave violation of humanitarian law.” U.S. Central Command stated it is examining reports of civilian casualties but has yet to confirm who carried out the strike. The school is situated next to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard installation.
Intelligence insiders disclosed that the CIA furnished Israel with location data that helped pinpoint the whereabouts of Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders, enabling the coordinated strikes that killed the Supreme Leader and more than a dozen top military officials.
The Ecuador mission is unfolding amid tense U.S.-Latin American relations. In late January, ICE agents tried to enter Ecuador’s consulate in Minneapolis while pursuing a suspect, leading Ecuador to issue a formal protest. Since then, the Trump administration has worked to mend relations with President Daniel Noboa, who met with U.S. Southern Command leaders in Quito shortly before the joint mission began.
The dual operations mark an unparalleled level of American military activity. President Trump has overseen both missions from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and has warned via social media that the Iran conflict could continue for “four to five weeks” and that more U.S. casualties are likely.
The political repercussions are already visible. In Texas’ primaries on Tuesday, Representative Dan Crenshaw — a former Navy SEAL who occasionally diverged from GOP leadership on foreign policy — lost his Republican primary to state Representative Steve Toth, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to fail to secure renomination in 2026. Meanwhile, state Representative James Talarico defeated Representative Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic Senate primary, setting the stage for a potentially competitive general election.
Lawmakers in Congress have raised strong objections to the expanding conflicts. Senator Tim Kaine, the lead author of a war powers resolution intended to halt Trump’s Iran campaign, called the military effort “an illegal war” undertaken without the approval of Congress.
The economic fallout has been swift and serious. Oil prices have surged as Iran strikes back at Gulf nations with U.S. bases. Iran has targeted facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, and its missile attacks have killed at least 11 people in Israel. The fighting has caused the most significant disruption to global air travel since the COVID pandemic.
Vice President JD Vance has publicly backed the administration’s actions in Iran, and the White House maintains that the missions in both Ecuador and Iran are directed at terrorist groups and are vital to U.S. national security.
As military operations progress on two fronts, protests have broken out in several U.S. cities, with demonstrators voicing opposition to the widening conflicts. The administration has not indicated when either mission may end and has declined to rule out deploying ground troops in the future.
