WAR WITH IRAN?

Tehran was attacked by combined U.S.-Israel forces overnight

A preemptive strike was made against Iran by a combined salvo from Israel and the U.S. overnight during what was morning by Israel’s time. Missiles landed across Iran’s capital Tehran, landing near University Street and the Jomhouri area, local news reported from the ground.

When asked why the attacks were launched, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said they were sent to remove threats to the State of Israel. American troops have been building up in the Middle East over the last month, including several fighter jets and warships.

Several nations, including the U.S., have told all non-essential personnel to leave Israel as strikes on Iran are imminent. Israel has called for a “state of emergency” as a “proactive alert to prepare the public for the possibility of missiles being launched toward the state of Israel.”

In previous exchanges between Israel and Iran, Iran responded with a salvo of its own ballistic missiles, causing some damage in Israel despite assistance from the U.S. in missile defense as well as the “Iron Dome” defense system built with the U.S. and partially funded by as much as $3.8 billion sent to Israel from the American taxpayers.

U.S. involvement in the strikes has the goal of decapitating the Iranian government. Iran is a Shia Islamic theocracy with its executive being the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, 86, who has held the position since 1989, being the second person to hold it since the nation’s Islamic Revolution of 1979.

The attacks occurred after the U.S. stock markets closed for the weekend as well as negotiations between Iran and the U.S. regarding the alleged Iranian nuclear program. Iran’s nuclear program has been allegedly close to building a weapon since the mid-1990s. Current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed Iran was close to the bomb since then, sometimes saying the Shia nation is mere weeks away from it.

In June 2025, Operation Midnight Hammer had American B-2 Spirit stealth bombers attack the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Natanz Nuclear Facility, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center. The alleged nuclear weapons development sites were struck with heavy “bunker buster” munitions. The results of these attacks are disputed, with the American side claiming the Iranian nuclear program was destroyed or at least seriously damaged. Iranians, however, downplayed the damage.

In his first administration, Trump cancelled a nuclear deal reached between the Obama Administration and Iran with the help of several other nations. The international deal eased previous sanctions against Iran in exchange for the nation no longer working toward nuclear weapons. He also had Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, one of Iran’s five main branches of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killed with a drone strike in 2020.

Trump addressed the nation early Saturday morning, saying the attacks were part of a “massive and ongoing operation” in an eight-minute video posted to his Truth Social account. He called for Iranian soldiers to “lay down their arms” to “receive total immunity,” saying they will “face certain death” if they do not. He also told Iranians not to leave their homes, because their day of freedom was coming.

In the video, Trump said the U.S. could not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, adding that the attacks were to ensure a future without Iran having nuclear weapons. Trump also signaled that there could be U.S. casualties in this operation.

Part of the deal being brokered with the U.S. would require Iran to cease uranium enrichment on its own soil. The Trump Administration has indicated it would respect Tehran’s right to civilian nuclear power, but said that Iran could not be trusted to peacefully enrich uranium without using it to build a weapon.

While Iran does not claim a nuclear weapons program, several nations are now eyeing the prospect of being nuclear powers following both the Russo-Ukrainian War, which took place after Ukraine surrendered its nuclear weapons following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the current breakdown of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) through the Trump Administration’s threats against Greenland, a territory claimed by Denmark — a NATO signatory.

Preventing an Iranian bomb is a goal for Israel and the U.S., which are both nuclear powers themselves, despite Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons not being publicly admitted. Israel is believed to have between 60 and 400 nuclear warheads, with the most commonly accepted estimate hovering around 90. The U.S. has more than 5,000 nuclear weapons. It has used them twice against another nation in the atomic attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki to force the Japanese surrender of World War II.

Communications across Tehran have been disrupted. The government created an internet blackout within its population at the beginning of 2026 to quell protests across the nation against the Ayatollah. Protests against the government began in late 2025 due to both economic conditions and dislike of the government itself. A Dutch survey launched by the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN) conducted a survey in June 2024, which found that only around 20% of Iranians from an estimated 77,000 people polled wanted the current government to remain in power.

Former leaders of Iran, some of whom have been persecuted by the government, have pushed back against the current government, which admitted that 3,117 people were killed in those protests. The U.S. based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) claimed the number was more likely 6,854 deaths with 11,280 cases under investigation.

Iran is planning to retaliate following the attacks. One move it could make is to close the Strait of Hormuz. A quarter of the entire world’s oil requires that strait for transport. Closing it or filling it with mines would be ruinous to global energy prices. Iran has threatened to close the Strait during previous conflicts and rumors of conflicts.

As of around 2:30 a.m. Central Time, Iranian missiles were launched toward Israel. The U.S. has told Reuters that they have planned a “multi-day operation against Iran.”

This is a developing story, and I am sure that much will have changed by morning. I am going to bed, but will update this story throughout the day as it develops.