The United States and Israel are at war with Iran. Here’s everything you need to know
Early Saturday morning, the United States and Israel launched a massive joint military attack on Iran called Operation Epic Fury.
President Trump confirmed it in an eight-minute video posted on social media. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the Israeli side of the operation separately, calling it Roaring Lion.
President Trump on going to war with Iran:
Both leaders said the same thing. The goal is to destroy Iran’s ability to build nuclear weapons, wipe out their missile program, and ultimately remove the Iranian regime from power entirely. This is not a one-night airstrike. U.S. officials have said the operation is expected to last several days.
How Did We Get Here?
The short version is that the U.S. and Iran have been on a collision course for a long time and diplomacy ran out of road.
Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program had been going on for months. Just one day before the strikes, Oman’s Foreign Minister announced what he called a breakthrough, saying Iran had agreed to stop stockpiling enriched uranium and allow international inspectors in to verify.
Trump said those talks ultimately failed and military action was the only option left.
This is not the first time the U.S. has struck Iran in the last year.
In June 2025, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. The U.S. joined in. Iran retaliated by hitting an American military base in Qatar. A ceasefire followed after twelve days.
Since that ceasefire ended, the U.S. quietly built up a massive military presence in the region, including deploying a second aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the Middle East in early February. In hindsight, that was not subtle.
Inside Iran, things had already been falling apart. Starting in late December 2025, the country erupted in massive anti-government protests driven by a collapsed economy and a currency in freefall.
The protests spread to over 100 cities and became the biggest domestic unrest the country had seen since the 1979 revolution. The Iranian government responded by killing thousands of protesters in the streets.
That context matters for understanding where things stand today.
What Is Happening Right Now
Explosions have been reported in Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, Karaj, and Kermanshah. The first wave of strikes targeted Iranian military leadership directly.
Iran’s Defense Minister and the commander of the Revolutionary Guards have reportedly been killed. Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Pezeshkian were both targeted in the opening strikes, though Iranian state media claims both are safe. Iran’s internet has been shut down.
Iran has already hit back.
They launched a wave of ballistic missiles across the Middle East targeting Israel and U.S. military bases in multiple countries including Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. A second round of missiles has been fired at Israel.
The U.S. Navy’s main base in Bahrain was hit. Explosions have been reported as far away as Dubai and Doha. The Houthis in Yemen have announced they are resuming attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
American Navy Base in Bahrain
Airspace across the region has been shut down. Multiple airlines have suspended all flights to the Middle East through at least March 7.
What People Are Saying
The reaction in Washington is more complicated than you might expect.
Not everyone in the Republican Party is on board. Congressman Thomas Massie called it an act of war that Congress never authorized.
On the other side, Senator Lindsey Graham called it a blessing. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, said Trump did what was right and necessary.
Internationally, France’s President Macron warned of grave consequences for global peace and called for an immediate stop to the fighting. China called for the military action to halt immediately. Russia condemned the strikes.
The rest of the world is watching very closely.
Trump addressed the possibility of American casualties directly in his statement:
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”
War is a terrible thing and nobody should be celebrating what is happening right now. The human cost on every side of this conflict is going to be real, and reports of civilian casualties inside Iran including a reported strike on a girls elementary school are devastating to read regardless of where you stand politically.
What is undeniable is that the United States military is now in active combat and American service members are at risk. That is what matters most in this moment. We will keep this post updated as the situation develops throughout the day.
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