Mevlüt Özkan
06 November 2025•Update: 06 November 2025
ISTANBUL
The US military has prepared options for a possible intervention in Nigeria after President Donald Trump ordered action to protect Christians from targeted attacks by terrorist groups, according to media reports.
US defense officials said that US Africa Command (AFRICOM) has drawn up three escalatory plans for Nigeria, including light, medium, and heavy options, and submitted them to the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The latest development came after Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that if the Nigerian government "continues to allow the killing of Christians," Washington would immediately cut all aid.
Trump said the US could “go into that now disgraced country, 'guns-a-blazing,’” and ordered the Pentagon to “prepare for possible action.”
According to the officials, the light option would involve “partner-enabled” operations, with the US military and State Department supporting Nigerian forces against Boko Haram and other militant groups.
The medium option envisions drone strikes on militant camps and convoys, though US forces no longer have nearby bases in neighboring Niger and would face logistical and diplomatic challenges.
The heavy option would deploy an aircraft carrier group and long-range strike assets, but officials said such a move is not currently a US national security priority.
Military officials said US forces are unlikely to end the West African country’s decades-long insurgency and would have a limited impact without an Iraq- or Afghanistan-style campaign, which they say is not seriously being considered.
“It would be a fiasco,” retired Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton said, adding that neither the public nor President Trump, beyond social media posts, appears interested in a large-scale ground war in Nigeria, and any US airstrikes would likely cause little more than shock, which he likened to “pounding a pillow.”
In Nigeria, security is threatened by a mix of terrorist groups, including Boko Haram and ISWAP, as well as armed gangs, ethnic militias like the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and herder-farmer conflicts often rooted in economic and social tensions.
According to the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), there have been 1,923 attacks on civilian targets in Nigeria this year, with only 50 directly linked to Christian identity.
ACLED noted that, while insurgent groups often frame their campaigns as “anti-Christian,” the violence frequently makes no distinction and harms all communities.
