For the second time in eight months, the United States and Israel have conducted military strikes in Iran. Last June, Washington’s focus was almost entirely on Iran’s nuclear program, with the U.S. strikes hitting three of the Islamic Republic’s key nuclear facilities, and Israel hitting a wider set of strategic targets, including military commanders, missile launch and production facilities, and nuclear infrastructure.
Smoke rising after a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, February 2026 West Asia News Agency / Reuters
This time, the United States and Israel conducted a sweeping joint military operation against Iranian leadership and capabilities, and U.S. President Donald Trump has called for “regime change” after Iranian protesters were viciously repressed by their own government early this year. On Saturday, February 28, the U.S. and Israeli militaries struck hundreds of sites across the country and targeted several top leaders, including Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed along with members of his family and key advisers.
But the likely next phases of the conflict are significantly more complicated than those Washington faced in the wake of last year’s strikes. Operation Midnight Hammer, as that attack was named, was bold but limited, with Iran’s response—striking an evacuated U.S. base in Qatar—telegraphed in advance. The objectives were clear, the sites familiar to military planners, and the two sides avoided an escalatory cycle.
The full article can be read on the Foreign Affairs website.
