Introduction: A War That Shook the World
In the early morning hours of February 28, 2026, the world woke up to a new and dangerous reality. Operation Epic Fury, which began on February 28, 2026, is the U.S. code name for its joint military operations with Israel against Iran. The opening salvo took out the heart of the Iranian regime, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and triggered a torrent of hundreds of retaliatory missiles and thousands of drones from Iran across the Middle East. Encyclopedia Britannica
What followed was not merely a surgical strike or a limited military operation. It was, in the words of analysts and officials alike, the most consequential American military engagement in the region in over two decades — a conflict that upended global energy markets, shattered diplomatic frameworks, killed thousands of people across multiple countries, and left the entire world holding its breath. The war is the biggest combat in the Middle East since the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Wikipedia
To understand this war — how it started, when it was launched, and why President Donald Trump made the fateful decision to go in — one must trace a long and winding road of history, ideology, geopolitics, failed diplomacy, domestic unrest inside Iran, nuclear brinkmanship, and the unique decision-making style of a president who, more than any other American leader in recent memory, governs by instinct, impulse, and the counsel of a small, loyal inner circle.
This article tells that full story.
Part One: Deep Historical Roots — The Foundation of Enmity
The 1979 Revolution and Its Lasting Shadow
Tensions between the United States and Iran stretch back to the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the subsequent Iran hostage crisis, which set a tone of mutual hostility and deep distrust. Encyclopedia Britannica For more than four decades, the relationship between Washington and Tehran has been defined not merely by competition or rivalry, but by an almost theological hostility — each side viewing the other as an existential enemy.
The Islamic Republic, founded by Ayatollah Khomeini after the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was built on an explicit anti-American, anti-Israeli ideology. The storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and the 444-day hostage crisis that followed left a permanent scar on the American psyche. For Iran's revolutionary leadership, confronting the "Great Satan" was not merely political strategy — it was a core religious and national obligation.
Over the following decades, the two nations engaged in proxy wars, economic sanctions, covert operations, and an endless cycle of provocation and retaliation. The United States supported Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. Iran funded and directed Hezbollah, which bombed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 American service members. The enmity was deep, structural, and generational.
The Nuclear Question: A Decades-Long Standoff
Central to all tensions was Iran's nuclear program. Tehran maintained, and still maintains, that its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes — energy generation and medical research. Washington, Tel Aviv, and most Western capitals have long suspected the program's ultimate purpose is to develop a nuclear weapon, which would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the Middle East and pose what Israel considers an existential threat.
The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), negotiated under President Obama, sought to resolve this standoff through diplomacy — placing strict limits on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions. For a brief moment, it appeared a peaceful resolution was possible. That moment did not last.
Part Two: Trump's First Term — The Seeds of War
Withdrawing from the Nuclear Deal
When Donald Trump entered the White House in January 2017, one of his most defining foreign policy convictions was that the JCPOA was "the worst deal ever negotiated." On May 8, 2018, he fulfilled a central campaign promise and withdrew the United States from the agreement, reimposing sweeping sanctions on Iran. The decision was celebrated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but condemned by European allies, Russia, and China. Iran, for its part, began gradually stepping back from the deal's commitments, resuming enrichment activities that it had previously frozen.
The maximum pressure campaign that followed was designed to bring Iran to its knees economically and force it back to the negotiating table — this time, on terms far more favorable to the United States. Instead, it drove Iran to accelerate its nuclear program and deepened the alignment between Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing.
The Assassination of Qasem Soleimani
The conflict between the US and Iran became direct in January 2020 when President Trump, during his first term, ordered the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force. Wikipedia The killing of Soleimani, widely regarded as the most powerful military figure in the Middle East outside of Israel and the most important strategic architect of Iran's regional influence, was a seismic event. It was the most direct act of aggression the United States had ever taken against Iran. The world braced for war. Iran vowed "severe revenge."
The retaliation, when it came, was measured — Iran fired ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq, causing traumatic brain injuries in over 100 American troops but no fatalities, in what appeared to be a deliberately calibrated response designed to satisfy domestic rage without triggering a full-scale American military response. Trump chose not to escalate further. The moment passed. But the template it established — of bold American action followed by limited Iranian retaliation — would prove deeply significant in the strategic calculations leading up to 2026.
Part Three: The Road to War — 2023–2026
October 7, 2023: The Catalyst Event
Tensions between Iran and the US and Israel further escalated following the October 7 attacks on Israel and the start of the Gaza war in 2023, during which Israel weakened Iranian-backed militias across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah, and others. Wikipedia
The Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 — the deadliest assault on Jewish people since the Holocaust — set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately culminate in the 2026 war. Israel's devastating military response in Gaza, which killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, did not merely reshape the region geographically and politically. It fundamentally altered the strategic calculus between Iran and its adversaries.
Over the following year and a half, Iran's elaborate network of regional proxies — the so-called "Axis of Resistance" — was systematically dismantled. Hamas was severely weakened in Gaza. Hezbollah suffered devastating losses in Lebanon. The Houthis in Yemen were struck repeatedly by both Israeli and American forces. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria were targeted. For the first time in decades, Iran's carefully constructed system of strategic depth — its ability to threaten Israel and U.S. interests through non-state proxies while maintaining plausible deniability — was being eroded.
2024: Direct Exchanges Between Iran and Israel
Israeli strikes on the Iranian consulate in Damascus and the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran were met with strikes on Israel in April and October. Wikipedia The year 2024 saw the previously unthinkable happen: Iran and Israel engaged in direct missile and drone exchanges for the first time in history. While both exchanges were ultimately limited in their damage — each side appeared to pull punches to avoid full-scale escalation — they shattered the old deterrence model and demonstrated that direct conflict was no longer unthinkable.
The Twelve-Day War: June 2025
Israel waged the Twelve-Day War on Iran in June 2025, which included an American airstrike aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear facilities. Wikipedia This was the most significant escalation before the 2026 war. In what the United States called "Operation Midnight Hammer," American B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. After Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 air campaign against Iran's nuclear facilities, the retaliation was similarly tempered. Time
The strikes were significant. They damaged Iran's nuclear infrastructure substantially. But they did not destroy it. Dan Caine told members of Congress in June 2025 that the United States focused on collapsing the tunnel entrances at Esfahan rather than destroying the underground areas when it struck nuclear facilities June 21 because the site is too deeply buried. Arms Control Association The IAEA confirmed damage to Natanz but noted that Iran's nuclear program had not been entirely eliminated.
For Israel and the United States, this was an incomplete victory. Iran still possessed enriched uranium, still had ballistic missiles, still had a navy capable of threatening the Strait of Hormuz, and still had a leadership structure capable of directing further aggression. The question of what to do next was left unresolved — until early 2026 forced the issue.
The Economic Collapse and the Great Iranian Uprising
By late 2025, Iran was in freefall economically. Decades of sanctions, compounded by the destruction wrought by the Twelve-Day War, had driven the Iranian economy to the point of collapse. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent labelled the collapse of the Iranian currency in December 2025 as the "grand culmination" of this strategy. Wikipedia
The economic desperation ignited social explosion. Beginning in late December 2025, massive nationwide anti-government protests erupted in Iran. Originally driven by discontent over the economic crisis, they escalated into explicit calls for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic government. The protests became the largest in scale since the 1979 revolution with 5 million Iranians protesting. Wikipedia
The Iranian government's response was catastrophic in its brutality. The Iranian government responded with massacres of protesters, with the deadliest incidents occurring on 8 to 10 January 2026. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency stated it had documented at least 7,007 deaths and was reviewing an additional 11,744, the Iranian government said it was 3,117, while various non-government affiliated Iranian health officials gave a figure of 32,000 deaths. Wikipedia
The images of mass killing in Iranian streets — broadcast across the world — provided moral fuel to those in Washington and Tel Aviv who had long argued for regime change. On 2 January 2026, Trump threatened a "locked and loaded" military intervention in Iran if the government decided to kill peaceful protesters. Wikipedia
Part Four: The Final Countdown — January–February 2026
The Military Buildup
Trump did not just threaten. He began moving the most impressive concentration of American military power in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion. In January 2026, US president Donald Trump responded by threatening military action against Iran and launching the largest US military buildup in the region since the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Wikipedia On 23 January, he said a US "armada" was going to the Middle East, including aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Gerald R. Ford. Wikipedia
The deployment of two carrier strike groups to the Persian Gulf sent an unmistakable message. This was not a bluff. The question was whether diplomacy could still avert the inevitable.
The Geneva Talks: A Final Diplomatic Attempt
Through January and February 2026, a frantic round of nuclear negotiations took place, with Oman serving as the primary diplomatic channel. Three rounds of negotiations took place throughout the month of February. The core elements of disagreement included whether Iran's ballistic missile programs and proxies should be included and whether Iran would be able to continue enriching uranium. The first round of talks took place February 6, in Muscat, Oman, with U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner representing the United States and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi representing Iran. Notably, the United States also included U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Admiral Brad Cooper, a visual reminder that the USS Lincoln was offshore. Center for Strategic and International Studies
The talks appeared, at moments, to be making genuine progress. On 25 February 2026, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi stated that a "historic" agreement with the United States to avert military conflict was "within reach" ahead of renewed talks in Geneva. Araghchi emphasized that diplomacy must be prioritized to avoid further escalation. Wikipedia
Then came the most striking moment of the entire pre-war diplomatic period. Just before the strikes began, on 27 February 2026, Omani foreign minister Badr Al-Busaidi said a "breakthrough" had been reached and Iran had agreed both to never stockpile enriched uranium and to full verification by the IAEA; furthermore, Iran had agreed to irreversibly downgrade its current enriched uranium to "the lowest level possible." Al-Busaidi said peace was "within reach." Talks were expected to resume on 2 March. After the US and Israel attacked Iran, Al-Busaidi said that he was dismayed and that "active and serious negotiations" had been undermined. Wikipedia
This single fact — that diplomats were reporting a breakthrough on the very eve of the strikes — remains one of the most contested and troubling aspects of the entire conflict. How could a war begin the day after a diplomatic breakthrough? The answer lies in the complex, and deeply controversial, decision-making process inside the Trump White House.
The State of the Union Address
At the State of the Union Address on 24 February 2026, President Trump stated that Iran had restarted its nuclear program and was developing missiles capable of striking the US. A few days later, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran had stored highly enriched uranium in an underground facility that was undamaged in the previous round of fighting. The IAEA said that it had no evidence that Iran has an organized nuclear weapons program or is building an atomic bomb, but could not be sure that Iran's broader nuclear program was "exclusively peaceful" at the time of reportage as the agency was denied access. Wikipedia
Trump used the State of the Union to frame the coming action in stark existential terms — Iran was on the verge of a nuclear weapon, and he would not allow it to happen. The stage was being set not just militarily and diplomatically, but rhetorically and politically.
Who Pushed Trump to Strike
According to The Wall Street Journal, US senator Lindsey Graham made the most compelling case to Trump for an assault on Iran. According to The Washington Post, crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman had multiple phone calls with Trump urging him to attack Iran, and Trump's decision to attack Iran came after the Saudi Arabian and Israeli governments lobbied him repeatedly to make the move. Wikipedia
This lobbying effort reveals the complex web of interests that converged on February 28. Saudi Arabia, a longtime rival of Iran for regional supremacy and deeply threatened by Tehran's missile capabilities and nuclear ambitions, saw in Trump a president willing to take the decisive action that Riyadh could not take itself. Israel, under Netanyahu, had long sought American backing for a definitive strike against Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the most hawkish voices in the U.S. Senate and a close Trump ally, provided the domestic political legitimacy.
Part Five: February 28, 2026 — The Day the War Began
The Opening Strikes
On February 28, 2026, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) and Israel launched a massive, coordinated preemptive military campaign against Iran — codenamed Operation Epic Fury by the U.S. and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel. The operation marked the most significant U.S. military action in the Middle East since the Iraq War, executed without a formal address to Congress beyond a War Powers notification and a Gang of Eight briefing. President Trump announced the strikes via an eight-minute video on Truth Social at 2:00 AM EST. Defense-Update
At 06:35 UTC, CENTCOM announced that it "and partner forces" had begun airstrikes against Iran. US warships launched Tomahawk missiles, while the U.S. Army used HIMARS launchers. Undisclosed long-range standoff weapons were also used. The US military stated that it used B-2 stealth bombers, as well as B-1 Lancers and B-52 Stratofortresses, to strike fortified ballistic missile facilities inside Iran. Wikipedia
Midmorning on February 28, U.S. and Israeli forces began conducting joint strikes on Iran, numbering nearly 900 in just the first 12 hours of what the United States dubbed Operation Epic Fury. The attacks targeted Iranian missiles and air defenses, other military infrastructure, and Iranian leadership. According to U.S. and Israeli officials, the timing of the initial attack was tied in part to the ability to target Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, before he would go into hiding. Encyclopedia Britannica
The Death of Khamenei
On 28 February 2026, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was assassinated in an Israeli air attack on his compound. Early on 1 March, Iranian state media announced that Khamenei had been killed. The Fars News Agency, which is controlled by the IRGC, announced that Khamenei's daughter, son-in-law, grandchild, and daughter-in-law Zahra Haddad-Adel had also been killed in the strikes. The Iranian government declared 40 days of mourning. Wikipedia
The death of Khamenei was historically staggering. He had ruled Iran since 1989, shaped the entire ideological and political structure of the Islamic Republic, and personified the revolution's enduring defiance of the United States and Israel. His killing was — simultaneously — a massive tactical victory for Israel and the United States, and a match thrown into a powder keg.
The Scale of Destruction
Trump told reporters that "Just about everything's been knocked out" and that Iran had no navy, air force, air detection, or radar after the attacks. On 3 March, Israel bombed Iran's 84-member Assembly of Experts as they were in a preliminary meeting to elect the next supreme leader on 8 March. By 5 March, the World Health Organization had identified 13 Iranian health infrastructure sites that were hit during the war. Wikipedia
The strikes did not limit themselves to military targets. Schools, hospitals, cultural sites, and civilian infrastructure were hit. It also killed about 170 people when a missile struck a girls' school adjacent to a naval base in Minab, near Bandar Abbas. Encyclopedia Britannica International condemnation was swift and fierce — but the strikes continued.
Part Six: Why Trump Did It — The Official and Unofficial Justifications
The Stated Reasons: Nuclear Weapons and Imminent Threats
The stated objectives were to destroy Iran's ballistic missile infrastructure and nuclear program, eliminate IRGC leadership, annihilate Iran's naval capabilities, and neutralize Iranian-backed regional proxies. White House
The Trump administration offered a layered set of justifications. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth articulated the military mission clearly: "The mission is laser-focused: obliterate Iran's missiles and drones and facilities that produce them, annihilate its navy and critical security infrastructure, and sever their pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran will never possess a nuclear bomb." White House
Vice President JD Vance framed it in sweeping terms: "The most important American national security objective that exists for any Administration at any time is you don't want the worst people in the world to have a nuclear weapon. That's why the President is doing this." White House
Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered perhaps the most comprehensive statement of goals: "First, we're destroying Iran's missile capabilities… and their capacity to produce brand new ones. Second, we're annihilating their navy. Third, we're ensuring that the world's number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon. And finally, we're ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund, and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders." White House
The Disputed Justifications
Trump administration officials have offered diverse and changing explanations for starting the war, such as to pre-empt Iranian retaliation against US assets after an expected Israeli attack on Iran, to ward off an imminent Iranian threat, to destroy Iran's missile and military capabilities, to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, to secure Iran's oil resources, and to achieve regime change by bringing the Iranian opposition to power. Iranian and some US officials rejected claims that Iran had been preparing an attack. Wikipedia
The "regime change" objective, while never formally acknowledged, was widely understood as the campaign's ultimate ambition. Defense-Update
The International Atomic Energy Agency said that while Iran has an "ambitious" nuclear program and has refused to allow inspections of its damaged sites since the 2025 war, there was no evidence of a structured nuclear weapons program when the 2026 war began. Wikipedia This was a devastating counterpoint to the administration's core justification — the IAEA, the world's nuclear watchdog, directly contradicted the claim of imminent nuclear threat.
Part Seven: Iran Strikes Back — The Regional War
The Scale of Iranian Retaliation
Iran's response was ferocious and far-reaching. On 5 March 2026, a military source told Fars News Agency that Iran had fired over 500 ballistic and naval missiles and almost 2,000 drones since 28 February. The report claimed that almost 40 percent of the launches were aimed towards Israel, and almost 60 percent were fired towards US targets in the region. Wikipedia
Iran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes targeting U.S. embassies, military installations, and oil infrastructure (including vessels in the Strait of Hormuz) throughout the Middle East. Iran hoped its broad retaliation would exact costs and pressure its adversaries into mediation. Encyclopedia Britannica
The scale of the retaliation surprised even senior American officials. Key Trump officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were surprised by the barrage of retaliatory attacks Tehran launched against U.S. and Israeli targets across the region, including in countries long assumed to be off-limits: Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, a state that had both harbored Iran's terrorist proxies and served as a conduit for Time diplomatic communications.
The Closure of the Strait of Hormuz
Perhaps the most economically consequential single action of the war was Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow waterway, connecting the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea, is the transit point for approximately 25 percent of the world's oil supply. Oil and gas prices have increased significantly since the war started Feb. 28, due in part to an Israeli strike on an Iranian gas field and an Iranian retaliatory strike on a Qatari gas field. Iran is also limiting transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for oil tankers that carry about 25 percent of the world's oil. Arms Control Association
Iran this week approved a bill to charge vessels for crossing the vital economic waterway. An estimated 20,000 seafarers are onboard in the active war zone. NPR
The ripple effects were felt globally and immediately. Before the conflict, an economy class ticket on Cathay Pacific from Sydney to London would cost about $1,370. It now costs more than $2,000 thanks to yet another fuel surcharge – and on some days, it's over $3,500. Before the US-Israeli war with Iran started, the global airline industry had forecast record profits of $41 billion for 2026. But with the price of jet fuel more than doubling, carriers are under pressure and scrambling to cope. CNN
Expanding Fronts
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel escalated into the 2026 Lebanon war, killing more than 1,000 militants and civilians by late March. Encyclopedia Britannica The Houthis in Yemen re-entered the conflict: on March 28 it launched missiles and drones toward Israel and opened a new front in the expanding regional conflict. Encyclopedia Britannica
The war was no longer contained to Iran. It had become a regional conflagration drawing in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and threatening the Gulf states.
Part Eight: The War Comes Home — American Casualties and Political Fallout
The Political Reckoning
Donald Trump was in the Oval Office during the third week of the Iran war when a group of his most trusted advisers came to deliver some unwelcome news. His longtime pollster, Tony Fabrizio, had conducted surveys that indicated the war Trump launched was growing increasingly unpopular. Gas prices had surged past $4 per gallon, stock markets had tumbled to multi-year lows, and millions of Americans were preparing to take to the streets in protest. Thirteen American service members had been confirmed killed. Some of Trump's key public supporters were criticizing a conflict with no clear end in sight. Time
It fell on White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and a small group of aides to tell the President that the longer the war dragged on, the more it would threaten his public support and Republicans' prospects in November's midterm elections. For Trump, the stark warning was unsettling. Time
Trump's Gamble
The President has begun many recent mornings watching video clips compiled by military officials of battlefield successes, according to a senior Administration official. He has told advisers that being the commander in chief to eliminate the nuclear threat posed by Iran could be one of his signature achievements. Time
The war, in Trump's framing, was a success. As preparations for the war began, the Administration believed it had a winning formula. The U.S. would deliver an opening strike so overwhelming Tehran's only viable response would be limited retaliation — enough to satisfy domestic audiences without inviting more attacks. It was a theory rooted in precedent. When Trump ordered the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani during his first term, Iran's response was a missile strike on a U.S. base that caused no casualties and was telegraphed in advance. Time
That formula did not work this time. Iran fought back far harder than anticipated.
Part Nine: The International Dimension
Divided World Reactions
Most countries did not take a definitive side in the conflict but called for peace. In the Middle East, most countries criticized the Iranian attacks. In Asia, many condemned the US-Israeli attacks or called for peace. In Europe, the majority condemned the Iranian attacks, condemned both sides, or called for peace. Wikipedia
France's President Macron was particularly vocal in his opposition. Macron rejected Trump's demand, saying the "idea of forcibly liberating the Strait of Hormuz through a military operation" was "unrealistic." Macron reiterated France would not participate in the conflict against Iran. CNN
Pakistan as Mediator
In a remarkable diplomatic development, Pakistan emerged as a key back-channel between the United States and Iran. Pakistani officials have been relaying messages between the U.S. and Iran but there are conflicting reports from both sides about whether talks are taking place between them, with President Trump repeating that negotiations are progressing while Iranian officials deny this. NPR
The UN and Global Governance
A draft UN Security Council resolution proposed by Bahrain would authorize countries to use "all defensive means necessary" to secure transit passage through the Strait of Hormuz, if adopted. CNN The situation at the United Nations reflected the deep divisions globally — a Security Council paralyzed by the competing interests of its permanent members.
Part Ten: Where Things Stand — The Search for an Endgame
Trump Claims Victory
By late March, Trump was publicly declaring the campaign a success. In March 24 comments to reporters, Trump said that the United States has "won" the war and that Iran wants "to make a deal so badly." He said that Iran agreed to "never have a nuclear weapon," a commitment Iran had already made in the February talks preceding the Israeli and U.S. strikes. Arms Control Association
Iran flatly denied this. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, posted March 23 on the social media platform X that "No negotiations have been held" with the United States. Arms Control Association
Vice President Vance declared: "The Iranian conventional military is effectively destroyed. They don't have a navy. They don't have the ability to hit us like they could have even a few weeks ago." White House
The Nuclear Program: Damaged but Not Destroyed
The 2026 U.S. worldwide threat assessment, released on March 18, does not indicate that Iran has taken any steps to weaponize or to resume nuclear activities such as enrichment that were halted due to damage from the brief U.S.-Israel Arms Control Association Twelve-Day War. But the deeper, buried facilities remained intact. The question of whether the nuclear program was truly eliminated — the primary stated justification for the entire war — remains unresolved.
The Costs Are Mounting
Since the war began over a month ago, 13 U.S. service members have been killed. Iran says more than 1,700 of its people have been killed. NPR The toll on Iran's civilian population, infrastructure, and economy has been far greater. An airstrike in Iran's capital, Tehran, on Wednesday morning appears to have struck inside of the former U.S. CBS News embassy compound — a darkly symbolic blow.
And yet behind the bluster has been a growing recognition within the West Wing that the situation may be slipping out of its control. Time
Part Eleven: Unanswered Questions and Historical Judgment
Was the War Legal?
The legal basis for the war remains fiercely contested. Members of the US Congress introduced a resolution under the War Powers Resolution, that would have held back Trump's attack on Iran. Wikipedia The United States launched the most significant offensive military action in two decades without a formal declaration of war from Congress — a constitutional requirement that has been bypassed in various ways since Korea, but whose violation has never been so stark.
Internationally, France's Macron acknowledged a "dilemma" about international law, while noting that decades of reliance on international law were being strained. Germany's Chancellor Merz acknowledged the legal tensions. The strikes were condemned by many legal scholars as violations of the UN Charter's prohibitions on the use of force outside self-defense.
Was the Intelligence Accurate?
The International Atomic Energy Agency said that while Iran has an "ambitious" nuclear program and has refused to allow inspections of its damaged sites since the 2025 war, there was no evidence of a structured nuclear weapons program when the 2026 war began. Wikipedia This stark assessment — from the organization whose entire mandate is nuclear monitoring — directly challenged the administration's core justification. The echoes of 2003 and the nonexistent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were impossible to ignore.
The Diplomatic Betrayal Question
Perhaps the single most damning question about the war's origins is the fate of the Geneva talks. Diplomats and mediators reported a breakthrough the day before the strikes. US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said Iran had begun recent nuclear talks by insisting on its "inalienable right" to enrich uranium, rejecting a US proposal for zero enrichment, and even boasting that its 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium could produce 11 nuclear bombs. Diplomats with knowledge of the Iran talks said Witkoff undermined the negotiations by misrepresenting the key exchange. Wikipedia
The question of whether diplomacy was genuinely exhausted — or deliberately sabotaged to provide a pretext for a war that had already been decided — will haunt historical assessments of this conflict for decades.
The Saudi and Israeli Factor
According to The Washington Post, crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman had multiple phone calls with Trump urging him to attack Iran, and Trump's decision to attack Iran came after the Saudi Arabian and Israeli governments lobbied him repeatedly to make the move. Wikipedia This raises profound questions about American sovereignty in its own foreign policy decisions. Was the United States acting in its own national interest — or was it, at least in part, serving the strategic interests of regional powers that stood to benefit most directly from the destruction of Iran's military capability?
Conclusion: A Reckoning Still to Come
The 2026 Iran War — Operation Epic Fury — is one of the most consequential and controversial military decisions in American history. It toppled a supreme leader who had governed for 37 years. It destroyed much of Iran's conventional military and naval capability. It set the entire Middle East on fire. It closed the world's most important energy chokepoint. It killed American service members and thousands of Iranian civilians. It divided allies, alarmed adversaries, and sent global markets into turmoil.
Whether it will ultimately be judged as necessary, justified, or wise is a question that history alone can answer — and only after the guns fall silent, the Strait of Hormuz reopens, and the full consequences become clear.
What is already clear is this: the war was not an accident, not a miscalculation, and not an improvised response to a sudden crisis. It was the product of decades of enmity, years of escalating conflict, months of deliberate military buildup, and a series of deliberate decisions made by a president who believed that maximum force, applied decisively, could accomplish what decades of diplomacy had failed to achieve.
Whether Donald Trump was right — whether history will record Operation Epic Fury as a decisive blow that eliminated an existential nuclear threat, or as a catastrophic overreach that lit the Middle East ablaze while the world still watches in horror — remains the defining question of our moment.
Trump has long favored what aides call "one-and-done" operations. He has launched them in Yemen, Syria, and Somalia. Time Iran, it is now clear, was not a "one-and-done" operation. It was, and remains, something far larger, far more costly, and far more consequential than anyone in the West Wing fully anticipated on the night of February 27, 2026, when the President gave the order that changed the world.