It has been a week since the US and Israel declared war on Iran. What was supposed to be a weekend decapitation strike aimed at regime change has transformed into a prolonged war, with destruction and casualties on both sides.
No matter how Donald Trump tries to sell this war, here are some key highlights of the American and Israeli action:
1. Assasination of Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei was killed on 28 February 2026 in a series of joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran, along with several other officials. The strikes did not lead to the anticipated regime change; instead, he has become a martyr and a religious symbol. This has had a significant impact in uniting Iranians, particularly Shia Muslims.
2. Killing of school girls
On 28 February 2026, a deadly airstrike destroyed the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province, southern Iran. Missiles reportedly destroyed a girls' primary school in Minab, southern Iran, killing around 150 people and wounding nearly 100 others.
Most of the victims were schoolgirls between the ages of 7 and 12, and many students are believed to be among the dead.
The attack was intentional, and efforts to identify the person who ordered it are currently underway.
3. Sinking of an Iranian warship in international waters
A US submarine sank an unarmed Iranian ship (IRIS Dena) on March 4 in international waters, close to India. The Iranian vessel was sailing from India's port of Visakhapatnam, where a joint naval exercise had ended on February 25.
The unarmed Iranian ship had been invited to participate in the joint Indian naval exercise, where its sailors paraded before the president alongside other participants, including the United States.
At the last minute, the U.S. withdrew from the exercise and torpedoed the Iranian vessel. The U.S. then reportedly refused to rescue the survivors, leaving the Sri Lankan Navy to recover bodies from the water.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth even mocked the incident, boasting: "An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters… Quiet death."
Eighty-seven sailors were killed, while 32 others were rescued.
What began as a quick operation has now devolved into a war of attrition. Iran has struck US bases across the region, as well as oil facilities belonging to countries friendly to the US and Israel. American radars have been taken out—including an AN/TPY-2 radar in Jordan, an AN/FPS-132 early-warning radar in Qatar, and a THAAD radar in the UAE—while the price of oil and gas has begun to climb. Americans and Israelis are carpet-bombing Tehran and Lebanon, and the war appears to be igniting across the region.
Let us not forget to take a moment and thank our great leaders, Trump and Netanyahu, for the situation they have created.
MAGA or MIGA?
