Iran is Burning. Here's Why.
On February 28th, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a campaign against Iran. As I am writing this, we are on Day 14 of an active war. This serves as a guide to what is happening, but also helps me process everything happening worldwide right now. I'm getting news from international sites and with the help of Claude (AI) have summed it up. We can debate AI ethics later — this is hopefully accurate news, if not please tell me. I'm gonna be honest, this is a lot.
The opening strike of this war killed Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. The reasons behind this attack from Trump and Netanyahu were stated as to "remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran," stating that "our joint action will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands." Trump said the operation would eliminate Iran's nuclear and missile programs, destroy the country's navy, and change its leadership, calling on Iranians to "take over your government." Now we can assume that this is complete bullshit, as is most politicians' statements these days. But this war was many years in the making, so some history is needed. (If you want just current events, I'm grouping all the history here but HIGHLY recommend reading.
Now, why is the US Iran's enemy? To start, Iran is run by a religious cleric, the Supreme Leader. There is some history here, as the US first put a puppet leader in Iran via a CIA coup in 1953, overthrowing the democratically elected leader. Nobody liked foreign invasion, so the people rebelled — cue an Islamic cleric stepping into the empty power vacuum (1979). Then came a massive wave of Islamization as well as de-Westernization, including shutting down colleges. Conservative authoritarianism replaced liberal authoritarianism, making the US Iran's enemy ever since. Now, side tangent — when leaders shut down your education, nothing, and I mean nothing, good happens. Be educated. Knowledge is power.
Context to the war! But it gets to a point, I promise. Before this war, you have to understand that the Iranian economy had been fracturing since the revolution in 1979. US and later UN sanctions were placed on Iran, cutting off the economy even further. On top of that, in 2025 they had the "Twelve-Day War" with Israel. "By December 2025, the rial was trading at more than 1.4 million to $1 — a sharp decline from around 700,000 a year earlier." Think about it like this: the currency lost half its value in 12 months. Just 12. On top of all this, the government decided to make petrol more expensive — essentially the cheapest gas in the world now cost more, adding to the financial strain on households.
Now, right before the war, millions started protesting. It is important to know that it didn't start as a political revolt. It started as working people saying they cannot afford to eat. The political dimension came after. Now here is where it starts getting gruesome. Iran's security forces began brutally suppressing millions of people across every province. Hospitals were overwhelmed and the internet was blacked out. They were using live ammunition. Let me repeat. Live fucking shots. The government killed its own people for protesting. Internal estimates from Iran's Ministry of Health indicated at least 30,000 people were killed in the first 48 hours. The Iranian government confirmed 3,117 deaths. US-based human rights monitors had confirmed over 7,000 by early February, with thousands of additional cases still under review.
You might be thinking: how does this factor into today? The US and Israel were watching Iran struggle. They were waiting for the right time. Iran was at its lowest point in years, and nobody helped. Whether you call that strategic timing or predatory opportunism probably depends on where you're standing.
Back to history — we have to tie in Palestine to all of this chaos. After 1979, Iran's new government immediately made Palestinian liberation a core pillar of their identity — not just rhetoric, but policy. They made a law mandating political, financial, and material support for Palestinian resistance. But why would they care? A couple of reasons. Ideologically, Iran frames itself as an anti-imperialist power that supports Muslim people. It just so happens that Palestine is the perfect example of this. Next, in Islam there are two major branches, Sunni and Shia, which have historically been in conflict. In modern-day Iran, a Shia-majority country in a Sunni-majority region, supporting Palestine — a Sunni cause — helps Iran build credibility across the Arab world. The final reason is strategy. Claude explains this better than me, so here you go: Iran is thought to be motivated in part by a desire to keep Iranian territory free of armed conflict by fighting in other countries through proxy forces, which pursue domestic interests while collectively mobilizing for a shared broader goal of militarily exhausting Israel and imposing a cost on US foreign policy in the Middle East. So — fuck the US and Israel. Man, why do I live here.
On the note of proxy wars, Iran is full of them, but this network has slowly been destroyed in recent years. Israel killed Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, gutted Hamas leadership, and the Assad regime in Syria — a key Iranian ally — collapsed. More reason Iran was already in crisis.
The last point before we get into the war is the actual motive behind it. As stated before, Israel and the US waited. Fucking waited until they could strike Iran down at the perfect moment. According to the Washington Post, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman conducted multiple phone calls with Trump urging him to attack Iran, and Trump's decision came after both Saudi Arabia and Israel lobbied him repeatedly. Next, we have domestic politics for Netanyahu — nothing saves a politician like a war to keep him in power. The real goals appear to be regime change, regional dominance, and — not incidentally — political survival for both Trump and Netanyahu at home.
Thanks for reading. Take care of yourselves, babes. Entry 3 will be the war today. -Quiet District Girl