On Feb. 27, President Donald Trump announced what he calls Operation Epic Fury, which began with unwarranted airstrikes across Iran, hitting major cities such as Tehran, Qom, Kermanshah and Isfahan.
Israel began targeting important Iranian government and military figures such as the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killing him March 1. The death of their Iranian supreme leader seems to have galvanized the population and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, their military against Western intervention.
Both Israel and the U.S. have targeted and destroyed civilian infrastructure such as bridges, hospitals, factories, power plants, transportation hubs, and cultural and political centers.
The U.S. and Israel have also hit oil refineries, gas fields and oil depots throughout Iran, heavily degrading its energy sector. Iran has responded by attacking oil and energy infrastructure in countries that host American bases such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain, as well as closing the Strait of Hormuz, an important route of commerce for the world’s economy.
This has caused a great decline in the global economy and the rise of energy and fuel prices. Rising energy rises creates a domino effect, causing many other goods to rise in price as well. Iran has also responded by attacking U.S. military bases in the Middle East, where these attacks on them originate.
Many Sacramento City College students see the Iran war as a waste of U.S. resources and as an act of imperialism, as Trump has said he just wants to take the oil. This war only seems like a net negative for us,” said student Griffin Stills. “It seems like other people dislike us more for how we’re acting”.
The human toll in Iran that has been paid for this war has been massive. The U.S. bombed a girls school in Iran and reportedly killed more than 150 children in the early days of this war. The current estimated civilian death toll in Iran is more than 1,700 civilians, including more than 250 children, reported by Reuters.
Representative of 916eyesonice, (a community group that does ice oversight in Sacramento )” Our attack on them is another example of American imperialism. We’re not over there liberating anybody, we bombed a school full of girls.”
On April 7, a two-week ceasefire was reported by Al Jazeera to have been agreed to. It was brokered by Pakistan. But attacks from Israel have not stopped, as Israel is still attacking Lebanon, a place where it has violated a ceasefire deal more than 10,000 instances before this latest offensive reported by UNIFIL.
As of April 2026 the Strait of Hormuz is now partially open, with traffic being way down. Iran has proclaimed its right over The Strait and has restricted access, especially to its adversaries. April 28 Saudi oil got through the Strait with the help of a Japanese tanker.
