World News

Iran Conflict Update: Over the last three months, the U.S. and Israel have waged a military campaign against Iran, targeting missile infrastructure, military sites and leadership. In the initial strikes, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed. According to BBC News, Israel’s military reports dozens more senior figures with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were also killed. Over a hundred civilians were also killed in this strike.

Following the strikes, Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was named successor on March 8.  Iran carried out widespread missile and drone attacks that targeted Israeli government and military sites in Tel Aviv as well as countries, according to the New York Times, hosting US bases- Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq. Other strikes occurred in Manama, Bahrain, Syria, outside Tehran and other locations.

On the evening of April 7, 2026, Iran and the U.S. agreed to a ceasefire, according to the New York Times, shortly after President Trump threatened to start “wiping out Iran’s whole civilization” if it did not allow commercial shipping to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz. The strait had been closed by Iran due to previous Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, an Iran-supported Shiite militant group and political party, in Lebanon.

Pull quote: “The failures in Iraq and Afghanistan — which killed more than 7,000 American service members and contractors — shaped voters’ views of America’s latest war of choice.”

• New York Times, “A Divided America Processes a War That Trump Has Scarcely Explained”

The Impact

Following the two-week ceasefire, Reuters, along with the Human Rights Activist News Agency  (HRANA), reported the death toll on all sides of the conflict.  In Iran, 3,636 died since the conflict began, with at least 1,701 civilians and at least 254 children. Reuters also reports from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, “20,000 injured in the U.S. Israel strikes so far.”

In Lebanon, 1,830 have been killed in the Israeli strikes since March 2, including 129 children. More than 400 fighters from Hezbollah have been killed since then. At least 10 Lebanese soldiers, three United Nations Peacekeepers from Indonesia,

In Iraq, at least 117 people have been killed.

In Israel, 23 people have been killed, including 12 Israeli soldiers, also killed in southern Lebanon.

In the United Arab Emirates, twelve people were killed, including two army soldiers.

In Qatar, seven people were killed, four of whom were Qatari armed forces personnel.

In Kuwait, seven people were killed, two interior ministry officers and two army soldiers.

In the West Bank, Reuters reports four Palestinian women were killed.

In Syria, four people were killed.

In Bahrain, two people were killed.

In Oman, two people were killed in drone strikes.

In Saudi Arabia, two people were killed.

In France, one French soldier was killed, and six others were wounded. As of early April, the conflict is still ongoing with live updates and reports in the New York Times and CNN Middle East, among other organizations.

In the United States, according to the Military Times, 13 military service members have been killed, and more than 381 have been wounded.