Iran · Gulf · Red Sea

Understand

Since February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel have been at war with Iran. The opening wave of US and Israeli air strikes hit military, nuclear and leadership targets across Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei along with senior military commanders and officials. The US named its campaign Operation Epic Fury; Israel called its part Operation Roaring Lion. Iran's Assembly of Experts named his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the new supreme leader in early March 2026.

The war followed the Twelve-Day War of June 13 to 24, 2025, when Israel struck Iranian military and nuclear facilities and Iran answered with ballistic missiles and drones. On June 22, 2025, the United States bombed the nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, and Iran fired missiles at a US base in Qatar. A US-brokered ceasefire ended that round, but talks over Iran's nuclear program, sanctions and missiles did not produce a settlement before the 2026 strikes began.

Washington and Jerusalem say the 2026 campaign aims to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to cripple its ballistic missile program; US officials also spoke of regime change at the outset. Iran says it does not seek nuclear weapons and calls the strikes unlawful aggression. Iran retaliated with missiles and drones against Israel and against US forces and host countries across the region, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Iraq.

The war quickly became a fight over sea lanes. Iran's Revolutionary Guard attacked merchant ships, laid mines and largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, the route for about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil before the war. The US answered with a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Yemen's Houthi movement, aligned with Iran, began firing missiles at Israel in late March 2026 and later turned its forces toward the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. Hezbollah also resumed fire on Israel in March, reopening the Lebanon front.

Parties

• Iran Fights the US and Israel with missiles, drones and attacks on shipping; map colors on this page are not a judgment.
• United States Leads the air campaign and a naval blockade of Iranian ports and escorts shipping through Hormuz; colors are not a judgment.
• Israel Joined the opening strikes on Iran and is a target of Iranian missiles; colors are not a judgment.
• Houthis (Ansar Allah) Iran-aligned Yemeni movement that has fired on Israel and Saudi Arabia and seized the Bab al-Mandab coast; colors are not a judgment.
• Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait) Host US forces and have been struck by Iranian missiles and drones; colors are not a judgment.
• Yemen's internationally recognized government Saudi-backed government that lost the Red Sea coast to the Houthis in September 2026; colors are not a judgment.
• Pakistan Mediated the April 2026 ceasefire, hosted the Islamabad talks and brokered the June memorandum.
• Qatar Carries messages between Washington and Tehran in the indirect talks of September 2026 while also hosting US forces.

Analysis

As of early October 2026 no ceasefire is in force. A Pakistan-mediated two-week truce began on April 8, but talks in Islamabad on April 11 and 12 ended without a deal, and the US imposed its blockade on April 13. A framework deal, the Islamabad Memorandum, was signed by Presidents Trump and Pezeshkian on June 17. It lifted the blockade, reopened Hormuz and set 60 days for a final agreement. It collapsed on July 8 after Iran attacked commercial ships in the strait and the US struck back and reinstated the blockade.

Fighting slowed in August, then resumed in early September. US strikes hit Iranian air defense, radar and naval sites along the southern coast, and Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it fired missiles and drones at US positions in Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq. Iran keeps attacking ships it says use unauthorized routes through Hormuz. Under US Navy escorts, crude shipments through the strait had recovered to roughly four-fifths of pre-war volume by late September, while Iran's own oil exports remain choked by the blockade and sanctions. The rial has fallen to record lows.

In Yemen, fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government resumed in July 2026 after years of relative calm under a 2022 truce. In September a Houthi offensive took the port of Mokha on September 10, along with Perim and the Hanish Islands, giving the group control of Yemen's Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab. The Houthis have also fired missiles and drones at southern Saudi cities and declared a blockade targeting Saudi shipping, opening a second maritime front.

Diplomacy continues through Qatari and other intermediaries. In late September Iran offered a seven-day plan for a ceasefire and a phased reopening of Hormuz. President Trump rejected it on September 26 and has said renewed strikes after the November 3 US midterm elections are possible. Washington ties sanctions relief and the release of frozen funds to concrete nuclear steps. The nuclear file is unresolved: the IAEA said in September 2026 that it can no longer verify the size or location of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, having had no access to the main enrichment sites since June 2025.

What to watch

• Whether indirect US-Iran talks through Qatar produce a new ceasefire or a reopening plan for the Strait of Hormuz
• Whether large-scale US strikes on Iran resume after the November 3, 2026 US midterm elections
• Whether IAEA inspectors regain access to Iran's enrichment sites and enriched uranium stockpile
• Whether the Houthis use control of the Bab al-Mandab to attack shipping, and how Saudi Arabia responds
• Whether Iran widens retaliation to Gulf energy infrastructure or to targets beyond the Middle East

Data

Parties

United States and Israel vs. Iran; Houthis and other Iran-aligned groups active on connected fronts

Began

February 28, 2026 (follows the June 13-24, 2025 Twelve-Day War)

Ceasefire status

None in force as of early October 2026; the June 17 Islamabad Memorandum collapsed on July 8, 2026

Key chokepoints

Strait of Hormuz (contested since February 2026); Bab al-Mandab (Houthi-controlled coast since September 2026)

Iran's supreme leader

Mojtaba Khamenei, named in March 2026 after Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28

Killed in Iran

HRANA: 3,636 killed, including 1,701 civilians (February 28 to April 7, 2026)

Nuclear monitoring

IAEA (September 2026): unable to verify the size or location of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile

Territorial control for this theatre is derived from openly licensed settlement-control data and rebuilt daily (4 snapshots held). Download: control.json (GeoJSON inside; CC BY-SA 4.0).

Timeline

1. 2025-06-13Israel strikes Iranian military and nuclear sites, starting the Twelve-Day War.
2. 2025-06-22The United States bombs the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites.
3. 2025-06-24A US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran ends the Twelve-Day War.
4. 2026-02-28The US and Israel launch strikes across Iran that kill Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei; Iran retaliates against Israel and Gulf states.
5. 2026-03Iran names Mojtaba Khamenei supreme leader as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz largely halts.
6. 2026-03-28The Houthis fire ballistic missiles at Israel, joining the war.
7. 2026-04-08A Pakistan-mediated two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran takes effect.
8. 2026-04-13After talks in Islamabad end without a deal, the US begins a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
9. 2026-06-17Presidents Trump and Pezeshkian sign the Islamabad Memorandum, lifting the blockade and setting 60 days for a final deal.
10. 2026-07-08The memorandum collapses after Iran attacks ships in Hormuz; the US strikes Iran and reinstates its blockade.
11. 2026-09-01US strikes resume on southern Iran after an August lull, and Iran fires on US bases in Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq.
12. 2026-09-10Houthi forces capture the Red Sea port of Mokha and advance on the Bab al-Mandab strait.
13. 2026-09-26President Trump rejects Iran's seven-day ceasefire and Hormuz reopening proposal.

Live events, aircraft and thermal anomalies for every theatre are published as GeoJSON on the data endpoints page.