Early Saturday, the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, marking the start of what appears to be a far-reaching and open-ended war. President Donald Trump said the operation was meant to eliminate an “imminent threat,” destroy Iran’s missile and naval forces, and ultimately encourage Iranians to overthrow their government.
The strikes began in Tehran and appeared to target senior regime figures, possibly including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran has since responded with retaliatory missile attacks on US, Israeli, and allied targets across the region. After weeks of military buildup, all signs point to a campaign far larger than recent clashes.
Politically, the moment seems to mark a sharp reversal for Trump.
After years of condemning the Iraq war and even branding himself the “peace” candidate, he has now embraced the kind of regime change conflict he long criticized. Allies once praised him for avoiding new wars, including politicians like JD Vance, while contrasting him with past hawks like Hillary Clinton, who infamously backed the Iraq war as a senator. That record now collides with a war whose goals and consequences remain deeply unclear.
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Trump’s war with Iran, briefly explained
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Welcome to The Logoff: The US is at war with Iran.
Why did the US strike Iran?
Editor’s note, February 28, 2026, 12:05 pm ET: This article was originally published on February 19, in the lead-up to war in Iran and updated on February 28 after airstrikes had begun.
President Donald Trump announced early Saturday morning that the US and Israel had launched an attack on Iran, saying the goal was to eliminate an “imminent threat” from Iran, “raze their missile industry to the ground” and “annihilate their navy,” and for Iranians to overthrow their government.
What does “America First” even mean anymore?
With the decision to once again launch major airstrikes on Iran, in conjunction with Israel, and call for the overthrow of the Iranian government, President Donald Trump’s foreign policy has come full circle. The US has once again launched the sort of regime change war, where the actual stakes for US national security are far from clear, that he has spent more than a decade deriding his predecessors for pursuing.
During the 2016 election, Trump initially distinguished himself from his Republican rivals with his willingness to call the war in Iraq a mistake — in fact he called it possibly the worst decision in presidential history. During the general election, Trump was viewed by many as less hawkish than his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, who infamously backed the Iraq war as a senator. In 2024, he once again ran as a non-interventionist, blasting the Washington foreign policy consensus for its willingness to send American troops to die in foreign wars.
Trump’s case for the Iran war makes no sense
Early Saturday, the United States launched an open-ended war on Iran. And nobody really knows why.
For the past several weeks, the United States has been amassing forces in the area — with an estimated 40 to 50 percent of its entire deployable air fleet in the region. Throughout this time, the Trump administration has refused to give any kind of straightforward public justification for the buildup: a clear accounting of why they were considering war with Iran, what such a war would entail, or what victory would look like.
Does the US have enough aircraft carriers for all Trump’s wars?
Editor’s note, February 28, 2026, 7:30 am ET: On Saturday, February 28, the US launched airstrikes on Iran. The article below was originally published on February 26. Read Vox’s latest coverage of the attack here.
As his latest threats to Iran suggest, President Donald Trump has become increasingly comfortable deploying military force around the world. But even with a military as large and technologically advanced as America’s, there are limits to how quickly he can simply pivot from one global crisis to another.
Gen Z really doesn’t want to go war
Editor’s note, February 28, 2026, 7:30 am ET: On Saturday, February 28, the US launched airstrikes on Iran. The article below was originally published on February 3. Read Vox’s latest coverage of the attack here.
There was an underrated storyline of the 2024 election, one that’s increasingly starting to resurface now, as President Donald Trump goes on a foreign policy crusade, threatening to upend longstanding geopolitical norms between the United States and our allies (*cough, acquiring Greenland, cough*): Gen Z really doesn’t want to go to war.
