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The Middle East has been plunged into a new era of volatility after the U.S. and Israel launched a major military campaign against Iran, triggering a wave of Iranian retaliatory attacks across the region.
U.S. and Israeli air strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior Iranian officials, leaving the fate of Iran’s theocratic government uncertain. The late leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has taken the reins, but the Trump Administration, which has openly called for regime change, has expressed its unhappiness with the new leadership and signaled that it has no plans to relent. The strikes also collapsed nascent U.S. talks with Iran over the future of their nuclear program, which were earlier derailed by the 12-day war between Iran and Israel last June.
“We’re doing this, not for now, we’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission,” President Donald Trump said in a video statement after launching the attack, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.” He warned of potential American casualties—“that often happens in war,” he said—and several U.S. servicemembers have already been killed in the days since.
The spiraling conflict has also endangered millions of lives across the Middle East and left tens of thousands of foreign citizens stranded and at risk of being caught in the violence in the region. Its effects are also felt globally on the economy, having disrupted one of the world’s most important energy corridors as well as a key hub of the aviation and tourism sectors.
Here’s what to know about how the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran got to this point and what could come next.
Why did the U.S. and Israel strike Iran?
American and Israeli officials have offered conflicting explanations for why they attacked Iran, even as Trump has insisted that strikes were necessary and that operations would continue until U.S. objectives are met. Immediately after the launch of “Operation Epic Fury” on Feb. 28,…
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