On Friday, Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, dropping airstrikes across the country. These airstrikes struck major cities, killing Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and other Iranian officials. Shortly after, President Donald Trump released a statement on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded, announcing the attacks and calling for the people of Iran to “take over [their] government.”
The human cost of the ongoing war has been high, with the deadliest single event occurring at the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab. On the first day of the war, the U.S. and Israel launched multiple missiles and hit the school, resulting in a death toll estimated between 175 and 180 people, according to Wikipedia, most of whom were young students. In Iran, the total casualties as of March 28 are approximately 1,900 with over 20,000 injuries according to Reuters. At least 200 U.S. service members have been injured across Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates as stated by the Washington Post.
One influential reason for the war, according to Trump, was to eliminate an imminent threat from Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. President Trump argued that negotiations had failed and that the Iranian regime was on the verge of obtaining a nuclear weapon. However, the president acted without Congress’s approval. Democrats have claimed that Donald Trump did not have the authority to “declare war” on another country, a power that is supposed to reside in Congress.
This is the second time in less than a year that Israel and the U.S. have launched attacks on Iran. The first time was the Twelve-Day War, lasting from June 13 to 24 in 2025. The U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack on nuclear facilities in Iran, and killed over 1000 people.
The attack this time, though, was impactful in a different way. The U.S., in coordination with Israel, successfully assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader of 37 years. Khamenei had put resources into building up Iran’s nuclear program and cultivated the presence of armed groups in the Middle East to fight against the influence of the United States and Israel. With Khamenei’s death, a long era of his “hard-line” rule ended, and the duty of supreme leader passed to his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Before Khamenei’s death in January, Iranian forces murdered thousands of protesters during the largest protests in Iran since the Islamic Revolution. President Trump spoke out about these killings and threatened to take military action against Iran, eventually launching surprise missile strikes throughout the country.
The U.S. surprise attack in Iran also escalated Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group. After the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Hezbollah launched retaliatory missiles into Israel, starting a war between the two countries as of March 2. Hezbollah is a recognized terrorist group by the Lebanese government and a strategic ally of Iran, and are designated as a terrorist group by the U.S., the European Union, and other countries.
The effects of the war are already being felt locally in Marin. Because of the attacks, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint where over a billion dollars of oil flows through every day. Gas prices in Marin and the Bay Area have risen to an average of $5.67 per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.
As the ongoing conflict enters its third week, residents of Marin County are left to navigate a world that feels increasingly volatile. The attacks in Iran have brought the effects of war into the local community. It remains uncertain whether this leads to a new era for the Iranian people or a prolonged war with no shift of power.
