The conflict between Iran and the American government has been filling the news and all of social media for days. But, there are so many parts to it that make it extremely difficult to understand. So, here is a simplified version to make you feel like you aren’t drowning in information. 

The United States and Iran have always had a difficult and an up and down relationship. In 1979, Iran took 54 American diplomats and citizens as hostages for 444 days. In 2015, former President Obama sealed a deal with Iran, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The deal insured that Iran would limited its number of centrifuges, which are tube-shaped machines that help enrich uranium which is necessary to make nuclear weapons. 

Then in 2018, President Trump decided to pull the United States out of the deal Obama made with Iran in 2015 that restricted Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons and ultimately hurt their economy. 

On December 27, 2019 an airstrike by Iran killed one American and wounded many United States service members. Then on December 31, the U.S embassy in Iraq was attacked by angry protestors. President Trump said these attacks were planned by Qasem Soleimani, the top military leader in Iran. 

Trump had several options on how to respond to these attacks and ultimately chose military action. Then he ordered an airstrike near an airport in Baghdad, resulting in the death of Soleimani and another Iran leader. 

Iran has spent the last several days in mourning and their government has said that they will take action against the United States for the murder of one of their top leaders. Trump has defended killing Soleimani, calling him a terrorist who was planning further attacks on U.S interests. 

“We will always protect our diplomats, service members, all Americans, and our allies,” said President Trump. 

In retaliation, Iran fired a dozen missiles at air bases in Iraq that are controlled by Americans. Iran claims many Americans were killed but the U.S says that there were no American casualties. 

Many Democrats are concerned that President Trump made the wrong choice by killing Soleimani and will result in Iran continuing to retaliate against the United States. Trump has warned them not to stating that he has 52 potential targets around Iran. However, some of the locations are important to Iranian culture, so attacking it could be considered a war crime. 

This conflict has many young Americans worried about a war starting and getting drafted. But Trump said actions are being taken to prevent a war, not start one. US ambassador Kelly Craft said that the United States was ready for “preventing further endangerment of international peace and security or escalation by the Iranian regime.” Instead of solving issues with violence, both countries plan on using negotiation to come to an agreement. 

The ongoing conflict between Iran and the U.S are scary, but we can only hope that our government has our best interest in mind. The situation is current deescalating and hopefully it will continue to. Many more things are to come and hopefully the outcome will result long lasting peace.