Growing significance of Trump's “War-a-Lago” in US policy

Photos of major US military operations — like the iconic image of then-President Barack Obama receiving a briefing on the mission that killed Osama bin Laden — provide rare glimpses into the American rooms where history is made. However, in the midst of joint Iranian strikes and escalating Middle East tensions, President Donald Trump shared photos on February 28 that showed him in a very different setting: his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida monitoring the military operation dubbed Operation Epic Fury.

The White House also posted the images on social media showing Trump alongside members of his national security team, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, as they tracked the progress of strikes that the US says killed at least 200 people in Iran and included the reported death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Vice President J.D. Vance was dialled in on a separate conference call from the White House Situation Room in Washington, joined by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

The area at Mar-a-Lago used for the briefing did not resemble the well-known glamorous rooms of the Florida resort. Instead, a section of the club was transformed to meet strict security requirements, with black drapes, secure internet lines, a sophisticated phone system and multiple monitors — including live social media feeds — creating a makeshift command center, as reported by CNN.

This is not the first time Trump has used the private estate — where he often spends time with family away from Washington — for high-stakes foreign affairs. Previous operations tracked from Mar-a-Lago included the January 2026 mission to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, as well as monitoring US strikes against Houthis in Yemen in 2025 and missile launches at alleged ISIS camps in Nigeria.

During his first presidential term, Trump was also at Mar-a-Lago when he authorised the 2017 launch of Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airbase while hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping, though he then was surrounded by a larger group of senior officials including then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, National Security Adviser HR McMaster, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and son-in-law and Adviser Jared Kushner.

Mar-a-Lago’s origins date back to the 1920s when it was built by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. Its construction includes natural protections: anchored to a coral reef by steel and concrete for hurricane resistance, with walls of thick Italian stone. Modern security has only been enhanced in recent years with stationed snipers, bomb-sniffing dogs, patrol boats along the Intracoastal Waterway, and miles of secure communications cables.

By Nazrin Sadigova