On February 28th, the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran. They were targeting military and leadership sites as well as missile infrastructure. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first attacks. On March 6th, it was reported that 1,300 people had been killed, and 1,205 of them were civilians.
Why Has this Happened?
On February 28th, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz described the attacks as a ‘pre-emptive strike‘ to ‘remove threats against the state of Israel’. Israel considers Iran a threat to the country’s own safety and wants the complete obliteration of the Iranian nuclear program. For the United States, President Trump claims that there could have been a threat of bombs from Tehran to the United States, despite the lack of evidence from US intelligence reports. In fact, they reported last spring that the country wouldn’t be able to create any long-range missiles until 2035. Trump initially phrased it as a way to eliminate a nuclear threat and a way for the citizens to ‘take back your country.’
Yet after this statement, his argument changed. There didn’t seem to be one true goal that the administration had for initiating the war. For example, on February 28th, Mike Waltz told the UN that the attacks were lawful since Iran didn’t comply with the agreements the US was trying to make with the country. However, that same day, President Trump said that the reasoning for the attack was to free the people of the country. Then on March 2nd, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War in the United States, framed the attack as a retaliation for the previous years of war. Overall, the reasoning behind this war isn’t clear, despite the administration hinting at the threat of a war or attack on Iran since January.
Where?
Since the initial attack, many other countries other than Iran have been affected. After the attack, the country fought back by attacking neighboring countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq. They haven’t retaliated against the country. An Iranian drone also affected Cyrus, since it struck a runway at the UK military base on the island.
This new war is still very fresh, but the stakes are rising, and the public is very upset about the abrupt start. People can only hope it’s over quickly.
