Why did US and Israel attack Iran and how long could the war last?

 Conflict across the Middle East has entered a second week after the US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran, killing the country's supreme leader on 28 February.

Iran has continued to respond by launching attacks on Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf, which have extended to non-military targets, including civilian sites and energy facilities.

The fighting has escalated quickly, pulling in Cyprus and Lebanon, with casualties and damage mounting on all sides.

The US and Israel first launched an attack on Iran on 28 February, targeting its missile infrastructure, military sites and leadership in the capital, Tehran, and across the country.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had led the country since 1989, was killed during the first wave of strikes. Israel's military said dozens more senior figures in the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were also killed.

Following Khamanei's death, on 8 March his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was appointed as his successor.

The US and Israel have continued to target key sites linked to Iran's nuclear programme. Iran has repeatedly insisted its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

The two have also ramped up attacks on Iranian oil refineries in recent days.

On 9 March, the US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) group reported 1,761 people have been killed in Iran - including 189 military personnel and 1,245 civilians, of which at least 194 are children.

Earlier on 6 March, Iran's ambassador to the UN said that more than 1,300 people had been killed.

Iran accused the US and Israel of launching an attack on a girls' school near an IRGC base in southern Iran on 28 February.

The US said it was looking into reports about the incident, while Israel said it was "not aware" of any military operations in the area.

Internet connectivity in Iran has been almost entirely restricted and its airspace has been closed.

Outside its territory, an Iranian warship was also sunk by a US submarine in the Indian Ocean near the coast of Sri Lanka. At least 87 people were killed.

Where has Iran attacked?

Iran has described the US and Israeli strikes as "unprovoked, illegal and illegitimate", and has carried out widespread missile and drone attacks in response.

The IRGC said it had targeted Israeli government and military sites in Tel Aviv and elsewhere.

As of 10 March, Israeli authorities said 12 people - all civilians - have been killed by Iranian missile fire since the start of the war.

Iran has been accused of widening its attacks to include other targets, including shipping and civilian sites, such as hotels in Dubai.

There have also been strikes in countries hosting US bases - Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait - and US-allied Oman and Saudi Arabia.

At least 10 people have been killed across the Gulf so far, most of them security personnel or foreign workers.

Of the Gulf states, Bahrain has reported the highest number of casualties from a single strike on 9 March in which 23 civilians were reported injured, including four children.

The week prior, drones hit the US embassy in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, and a drone also hit a car park adjacent to the US consulate in Dubai.

Iraq said it had been struck by Iran on 6 March after explosions at Erbil airport, while two days earlier Turkey said it had shot down an Iranian missile over its airspace. Azerbaijan accused Iran of attacking an airport with drones.

As of 8 March, seven US service members had been killed in total.

The US and its Arab allies issued a joint statement condemning Iran's attacks, saying "the targeting of civilians and of countries not engaged in hostilities is reckless and destabilising behaviour".

Elsewhere, a British military base in Cyprus was struck by a drone, according to the UK Ministry of Defence, which the Cypriot president blamed on Iran. Western officials later said the drone was not launched from Iran.

On 7 March, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian broadcast a video message on Iranian state television apologising to neighbouring countries that were attacked.

Pezeshkian said Iran did "not intend to invade neighbouring countries" and said the leadership has issued a decision to the armed forced that "from now on, do not attack neighbouring countries unless attacked first".

What's happening in Lebanon?

A new front in the war opened in Lebanon on 2 March when the militant group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli positions.

Israel launched attacks in response, hitting Beirut and parts of southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah is allied to Iran's government and said it was seeking to avenge Khamenei's assassination.

In Israel, the defence minister said on 3 March ground troops would "advance and seize additional strategic areas in Lebanon" in order to stop attacks from Hezbollah.

Israel launched a "broad-scale wave" of strikes against Beirut overnight on 6 March, saying it struck Hezbollah command centres and a facility storing drones in the capital's southern suburb of Dahieh.

As of 10 March, Lebanon's health ministry said the attacks had killed at least 486 people. According to children's rights organisation Unicef, at least 83 children have been killed.

Nearly 700,000 people, including around 200,000 children, are displaced from their homes, the United Nations said.

The Israeli military also reported two of its soldiers had been killed as of 8 March.

Why have the US and Israel attacked Iran?

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz described the first strikes on 28 February as a "pre-emptive strike" to "remove threats against the state of Israel", although he did not explain why there was a need to take military action at this time.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday the US knew there was going to be Israeli action, which meant America had to act "pre-emptively" in the face of expected Iranian attacks on American forces.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Brig Gen Effie Defrin revealed that the military operation was preceded by months of strategic deception that caught Iran off guard.

In the US, some lawmakers have called for President Donald Trump's administration to provide evidence that Iran posed a threat before Washington went to war.

But there are also underlying reasons.

Israel and the US - its closest ally - have been arch-foes of Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. The Iranian leadership has consistently called for Israel's elimination and denounced the US as its greatest enemy.

The two countries have led Western opposition to Iran's nuclear programme, claiming Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear bomb - something Iran has vehemently denied.

They attacked Iranian nuclear and military sites in June 2025 in a war which lasted for 12 days.

Since then, they have claimed Iran has been trying to rebuild its nuclear programme and develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

Trump said these missiles could eventually reach the US, though this has not been supported by US intelligence assessments.

For its part, Israel considers Iran a threat to its existence and wants the complete removal of Iran's nuclear and missile programme, as well as regime change.

The US first openly talked in January about potentially attacking Iran when its security forces cracked down on protesters with deadly force.

But the US and Iran began negotiations and appeared to be making progress until Trump said he was "not happy" with the way the talks were going on 27 February. Hours later, the US and Israel began attacking.

On 6 March, Trump said there would be "no deal" with Iran unless it agreed to an "unconditional surrender.

The following day, in response to Pezeshkian's television statement, Trump said the Iranian leader had "apologised and surrendered ... because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack" but added later in his Truth Social post, "today Iran will be hit very hard!"

How is the war affecting the economy and energy prices?

Instability in the Middle East has begun to impact the global economy.

Iran has been accused of attacking ships in the Gulf, forcing the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz - a key artery accounting for about 20% of global oil and gas supply.

Attacks have also been reported on major oil and gas hubs, including in Oman's Duqm commercial port and the UAE's Fujairah terminal.

The strikes have prompted some of the world's largest producers of oil and gas to suspend production, including Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and Saudi Arabia's largest domestic refinery.

Oil and gas prices have surged, prompting warnings about the impact on the global economy and cost of living.

The oil price reached nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, but dipped after Trump said the war with Iran will end "very soon".

However, the US president later threatened to hit Iran "20 times harder" if they stopped oil flowing through the Straits of Hormuz.

Trump said on 3 March that the US navy would protect ships in the region "if necessary" and "at a very reasonable price" in a bid to stop global energy supply issues.

A tanker off the coast of Kuwait was hit by a "large explosion", causing an oil spill, British maritime security agency UKMTO said on March 5.

Is it safe to travel to the region and how long could the war last?

On 9 March Trump made a range of remarks about when the war would end.

Speaking to CBS News, Trump said the war "is very complete, pretty much", adding: "We're very far ahead of schedule."

But later that day he suggested the US would "go further".

"We could call it a tremendous success right now," he said. "Or we could go further. And we're going to go further."

He added that the US was "very close to finishing" what he called an "excursion".

Trump also laid out an expansive mission for the war. His goal, he said, was to ensure that Iran could not develop weaponry to target the US, Israel or any American allies "for a very long time".

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously suggested the war could last up to six weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of war that the campaign would "continue as long as it is needed".

The war has prompted one of the most serious disruptions to global travel since the Covid-19 pandemic, with airspace closures and thousands of flights grounded across the Middle East.

On 6 March, airline Etihad announced it would begin operating limited flights from Abu Dhabi to London, Manchester, Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin, Rome, Paris, and Milan.

Emirates also resumed some flights, following the partial re-opening of regional airspace.

Airspace in Qatar partially reopened on 7 March, in response Qatar Airways said it intended to operate repatriation flights. It resumed limited operations to and from Doha on 8 March.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said anyone planning to travel to the Middle East should check its website for advice relating to their destination.

The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, says intensifying violence across the Middle East and beyond has already triggered significant population movement.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2dyz6p3weo