Iran for Dummies

You’ve probably noticed that the United States is at war with Iran. I don’t know about you, but if it weren’t for my occasional perusal of my news subscription, I might not have otherwise realized it. There isn’t war rationing, children running around in flour sacks, or protests of soldiers returning home. My Alabama gas prices are beginning to mirror what I remember of gas prices when I lived in California, but those numbers started ticking up before the war thanks to the economic policies of the current administration.

Before we get into my diatribe, here’s why I feel like I have enough qualifications to be going on about this: I have a Master of Science in International Relations, a background working with international populations, and I just like paying attention to this kind of thing. My own graduate work on the Iran Nuclear Deal is what kickstarted my interest in Iran especially.

The definition of “war” is not universally agreed upon, but it often requires a certain threshold of civilian deaths. US presidents like to be creative when naming things that feel like wars, using such terms as “conflict,” “operation,” “military intervention,” and more, depending on what’s good marketing to achieve the president’s goals.

The United States has never officially declared war on Iran in this latest conflict. Only Congress has the authority to declare war, which it has not done. The actions of the US military have been at the direction of the president. The first military action that kicked off the fighting occurred on February 28, 2026, when the United States joined a joint military operation with Israel to launch a military attack on Iran’s military infrastructure, resulting in the death of Iran’s supreme leader. This initial strike was at the direction of President Trump, and since he doesn’t have the authority to declare war, his administration is justifying the action by calling it Operation Epic Fury (as opposed to the Epic Fury War, or whatever). It’s the branding he needs so that the president can achieve his goals, though he hasn’t made clear what those goals are, as I’ll discuss later.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973, also known as the War Powers Act, is interfering here. It allows the president to defend the nation in special circumstances without prior congressional approval, on the condition that the president obtain consent after the military intervention takes place and within a certain amount of time. However, those time constraints have come and gone without Congress giving its stamp of approval, meaning the president is in violation of the War Powers Act and acting beyond his authority. He has attempted to justify his actions not only by being intentional with his name for the conflict (it can’t be illegal if he doesn’t call it a war, right?), but also by occasionally declaring an end to the war, and claiming that proceeding military actions are a part of a different conflict.

Alright, with all that background, let’s get into it.

What’s Currently Happening

The United States has teamed up with its ally, Israel, to trade strikes with Iran. Other countries and several terrorist groups are also involved in the conflict. By all measures, the United States has been in this specific conflict since February 28, 2026. US-Iran military tensions have been strained for decades. The United States attacked an Iranian elementary school on the first day of the war, killing 175 people, most of them children.

A tomahawk missile dropped on a bunch of kids meets my definition of war.

Israel has been involved because, well, Israel hates Iran and they’ve been looking for a reason to strike probably since 1948. They’re involved now because their older brother, the United States, is led by someone who wants to leave his mark on history, be seen as a tough guy, thinks regime change is easy as kidnapping a Venezuelan president, and knows that war has been historically good for the US economy and has implemented a ton of policies that are harmful to the American economy and could use the help.

Why We’re at War

The United States, and particularly the president, have offered inconsistent reasons for starting and sustaining the war. Most often, the public has been presented with justifications around preventing the development of Iran’s nuclear program or to instigate regime change.

But it was only a year ago the United States attacked Iran and President Trump subsequently declared total decimation of their nuclear abilities. So, if the prevention of nuclear weapons is part of the goal, then he either lied to us then or is lying to us now.

If regime change is the goal, the United States killed Iran’s leader on the first day of the war. Granted, their government is still run by members of the same oppressive group. However, the United States has not publicly declared an alternate leader or group to take over. They have done nothing to support any new systems to replace what they are trying to dismantle.

Historical Context

The long term story of US-Iran relations is bloody, hypocritical, and far too complex for us to get into right now. But there are a few highlights worth mentioning:

The Shah

Iran democratically elected a prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, in 1951. Among the many policies Mosaddegh implemented was the nationalization of the oil industry, which was in direct conflict with the interests of the United States’ ally, the United Kingdom. The US and the UK supported a coup d’etat in Iran to overthrow Mosaddegh and prop up a leader who would support British and American oil interests: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Pahlavi, whose title was Shah, was viewed as a dictator by Iranians. His government was overthrown in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution. The void in power was filled by Ruhollah Khomeini, a “Supreme Leader” who instituted a radical Islamic regime.

I’m going fast here, I know, but you’ve got Wikipedia if you want the nitty gritty. My primary point with bringing up the Shah is Iran had a democratically elected leader who the West didn’t like, so the United States staged a coup and put their guy in instead, even though Iranians didn’t like him. They eventually overthrew his government but then the leadership was backfilled by an extremist. That guy eventually died but his government remains; it was his immediate successor who was killed by the February 2026 attacks. So, this war started with the murder of Iran’s Supreme Leader, who was only there in the first place because Iran didn’t like the guy the United States put in charge.

The Iranian Hostage Crisis

66 American hostages were taken at the US embassy in Iran in 1979 and held for 444 days. It was supported in large part by Ruhollah Khomeini, the religious extremist who assumed power after the Shah was exiled.

The crisis was in response to the United States granting temporary asylum to the Shah so he could seek critical medical care while he was in exile from Iran.

I only bring this up because you’ve probably at least heard of the event, and it’s a pretty significant moment in US-Iranian relations.

The Iran Nuclear Deal

The Shah story is the most interesting to me, but in 2026 we’re in the middle of a new chapter of the story that’s also worth our attention.

The Iran Nuclear Deal was signed in 2015 between Iran, the United States, and several other countries. The deal prevented Iran from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Iran agreed to intensive inspections to prove they were not developing any components of these weapons.

In 2018, the United States pulled a 180 and withdrew from the deal for reasons unbeknownst to anyone interested in world peace. But because the deal was working, all other countries remained. However, the deal steadily fell apart after the US withdrawal, with Iran finally announcing it’s complete break from it in October 2025.

And here we are: an economically decimated Iran, led by an Islamic extremist, and no reason not to create a nuclear weapon.

Where We Are Today

At the time of this post – June 18, 2026 – peace talks are supposedly nearing an end. What any semblance of an agreement could possibly entail is beyond the guesses of any expert, since the United States never made their intent with the war clear in the first place.

It’s also my wedding anniversary.