2026_Iran_war

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Since 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel have been engaged in a war with Iran and its regional allies. The conflict began when the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran targeting military and government sites and assassinating several Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The surprise attacks were launched during negotiations between Iran and the US regarding Iran's nuclear program. Iran responded with missile and drone strikes against Israel, US bases, and US-allied Arab countries in West Asia, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global trade. After the Middle Eastern crisis began in 2023, Iran and Israel exchanged missile strikes in 2024, and again during the Twelve-Day War in June 2025, which resulted in a US airstrike on Iranian nuclear sites. In January 2026, Iranian security forces massacred thousands of civilians in their crackdown on the largest Iranian protests since 1979. US president Donald Trump responded by threatening military action and starting the largest US military buildup in the region since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Israeli–US airstrikes damaged military bases, government buildings, schools, hospitals, and heritage sites and resulted in civilian casualties. In retaliation, Iran launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, US military bases in the region, and at neighbouring Arab countries including Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Iran and its proxies launched strikes on Iraq's Kurdistan. A drone struck Britain's Akrotiri military base on Cyprus, and missiles were shot down over Turkey while civilian infrastructure was struck in Azerbaijan. The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel escalated into the 2026 Lebanon war, killing more than 2,000 civilians and militants. The Trump administration gave diverse explanations for starting the war: to forestall Iranian retaliation after an expected Israeli attack, to stop an imminent Iranian threat, to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, to seize 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. The International Atomic Energy Agency said that, while Iran has refused to allow inspections of its damaged sites after the 2025 war, there was no evidence of an ongoing nuclear weapons program. United Nations secretary-general António Guterres and several uninvolved countries condemned the US–Israeli strikes; the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning Iran's retaliatory strikes on the Gulf states. Critics of the war, including legal and international relations experts, described the US attacks as illegal under US law, an act of imperialism, and a violation of Iran's sovereignty under international law. The war's economic impact includes the world's biggest oil supply disruption si