When President Donald Trump authorized the joint US-Israeli offensive against Iran, he set in motion what may be the most audacious American military operation since the invasion of Iraq. Seven days into the campaign, the scale and ambition of the enterprise have become fully visible: a sustained effort to destroy Iran’s military capabilities, topple its government, and reshape the Middle East in a single, overwhelming stroke.
The campaign has been driven by extraordinary firepower. American B-2 stealth bombers, the most advanced aircraft in the US arsenal, have dropped dozens of massive 2,000-pound penetrating bombs on Iran’s hardened underground missile infrastructure. A large Iranian warship serving as a drone platform has been struck and possibly destroyed. The head of US Central Command personally confirmed the strikes, and the defense secretary promised that American firepower would surge even further in the coming days.
Israel has prosecuted its own component of the campaign with equal ferocity. In Lebanon, the Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of areas covering more than one million people, including all of Beirut’s Dahiyeh district. Strikes on Hezbollah’s headquarters, weapons storage facilities, and command infrastructure have transformed the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital into a wasteland. Still, Hezbollah has continued to fight, firing rockets into Israel and wounding Israeli soldiers near the border.
Iran has retaliated across every available front. Missiles and drones have been launched at US military bases in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. Additional strikes have been aimed at Israeli territory. The Revolutionary Guards have vowed to introduce new weapons and tactics. Iranian state media has broadcast scenes of mourning and defiance, showing large crowds at Friday prayers in Tehran, weeping for the slain supreme leader while pledging continued resistance.
The global consequences have been immediate. Oil markets have been disrupted. Tens of thousands of flights have been grounded. Stock markets across the world have lurched. The United Nations has pleaded for restraint. European allies have deployed additional military assets to the region at the request of their American partners. And Trump has publicly stated his desire to personally influence the selection of Iran’s next supreme leader — a declaration that signals just how transformative this conflict may ultimately be.
