On Saturday, Feb. 28, Operation Epic Fury, the airstrike mission led by the United States and Israel, illuminated the morning sky in multiple cities and key military sites in Iran. Soon after, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was pronounced dead at 86 years old as a result of an airstrike on his compound in Tehran. With continued attacks from both sides, this marked the beginning of the Iranian War.
Historical Relations Between The United States and Iran
The U.S. and Iran used to have mutual relations. In 1953, the CIA and British intelligence agency MI6 assisted the Iranian military in a coup d’etat of the prime minister at the time, Mohammed Mossadeq, shifting power towards Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. However, much of the population did not support Pahlavi as their leader.
In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Cooperation Concerning Civil Uses of Atoms agreement with Iran. The agreement provided Iran with the resources and groundwork to construct nuclear technology until 1979, when the Iranian Revolution occurred. The revolution resulted in the overthrown Pahlavi fleeing to the United States and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini rising to power after 14 years of exile. Khomeini was exiled after leading major riots in opposition to Pahlavi’s western-shift of Iran, known as the “White Revolution.” Khomeini converted Iran into an extremely conservative theocracy.
In 1985, Hezbollah, a Shia militant group from Lebanon devoted to Khomeini’s regime, emerged and held seven Americans hostage. Despite U.S. officials secretly selling weapons to Iran as ransom, two of the hostages were killed. Over the course of four decades, tensions fluctuated with the Iran-Iraq War, Persian Gulf War, the Bonn Agreement, the Iraq War, attacks on oil trade and the progression of Iran’s nuclear weapon development.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was born into a religious Shia Muslim family. Khamenei opposed Pahlavi along with any liberal or progressive ideas or efforts and served as the Iranian president until 1989, when he succeeded Khomeini as the supreme leader. The role of supreme leader is not inherited through patrimony, but rather earned based on one’s religious and leadership stature. Though hesitant to lead against others more religiously certified, Khamenei built his power using the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian military marked as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. Khamenei increased defense for Iran by developing proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
By 2009, most of the public did not support Khamenei and the conservative regime. In response to fear of national collapse after the Arab Spring uprisings and deterioration of the national economy, Khamenei pushed for the development of nuclear technology and weapons.
With the arrival of 2025, mounting fears of nuclear weapons in Iran resulted in Operation Midnight Hammer. Israel launched a surprise attack aimed at destroying the nuclear sites on June 13, 2025, followed by an attack by the U.S. on June 21, 2025. The U.S. bombed and launched missiles at three Iranian nuclear facilities, causing extreme damage to the sites, but the possibility of some nuclear weapons remaining still existed.
On February 28, 2026, Khamenei passed away, leaving the fate of the nuclear program undecided.
Current State of Affairs
Airstrikes and attacks continue as Israel and the United States aim to overthrow Iran’s current regime while ending their nuclear program. In response, Iran has made counterstrikes against Israel and surrounding countries housing US military bases and related locations. Countries that have been struck include Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia. As a result, the military and civilian death tolls have increased.
However, Iran faces a weak national and regional state with economic and political struggle, leaving their defenses unavailing against Israeli and American attacks. Both the United States and Iran claim that their actions are a part of their right to self-defense under the United Nations Charter. Over 2,000 people in the region have been killed. Lebanon and Israel attempted to stop the actions of Hezbollah as the organization fired rockets against Israel on March 2. The responsive attacks by Israel have left at least 570 civilians dead and nearly 700,000 people displaced from their homes in Lebanon.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has assumed the position of Iran’s new supreme leader. Khamenei has not yet reached the highest status in the hierarchy of religious standings, but might yet be able to attain the highest religious status with induction like his father. Additionally, some view the younger Khamenei as promising and influential due to his impact on multiple political elections and other political events. However, his conservative views make him a target in the Iranian public’s shift towards progress.
Accidents from the War
During the strike on Feb. 28, while using outdated coordinates from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the United States launched a deadly Tomahawk missile at an elementary school instead of the adjacent Iranian military base. The school building had once belonged to the base, but now houses Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School. The building was full of children on the morning of the strike, resulting in a casualty count of at least 175 civilians. Satellite imaging found that the school had been struck twice by U.S. Tomahawks in a series of coordinated attacks with strikes on other naval bases. President Donald Trump made several claims that the Tomahawks could have belonged to Iran, but individuals such as the director of Armament Research Services and the Senate Minority Leader have addressed that Iran and Israel do not own Tomahawks. Still, more investigation is being conducted into the accident.
Another accident occurred on March 12, when a KC-135 fueling aircraft belonging to the United States Air Force crashed in Iraq. All six crew members on the aircraft, three of whom belonged to the Ohio Air National Guard’s 121st Air Refueling Wing, sadly passed away, bringing the total U.S.death toll to 13 service members. The reason for the crash is unknown, but it was “not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,” according to the U.S. military.
Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter said that a second KC-135 aircraft had landed in Israel, but images of the aircraft photographed by Israeli public broadcaster KAN identified the top of the tail fin cut short. The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, in alliance with Iran, took ownership for both the crash and the emergency landing of the two KC-135 aircrafts. Additionally, it was possible that the crew deaths were due to a lack of parachutes as KC-135 aircrafts often do not carry parachutes.
Moving Forward
Iran is making efforts to close off the Strait of Hormuz, an aquatic chokepoint necessary for exporting oil and other resources out of the Persian Gulf to other countries globally. Oil prices are increasing drastically as Iran sends out most of its naval fleet to deploy mines and missiles and physically block the waterway. The best strategy for the U.S. to combat this, according to Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, is to capture the bordering Iranian territory.
As the war continues, the U.S. seems to be attacking without a clear plan. The goal of the United States military and government continues to change, with efforts now focused on opening the Strait of Hormuz. While the current attack methods prevent U.S. combat casualties, this approach is draining money and resources quickly, potentially compromising the strength of the military for years to come.
