In the past couple of weeks, all anyone can seem to talk about is the recent issues with Iran and the conflict arguably caused by President Trump’s unilateral actions. Similar potential conflicts with Iran have come up in years past, including one during the Obama administration in 2011. Tensions have been rising in the Middle East for years, ever since the War in Iraq began on March 20th, 2003.

The conflict with Iran began when President Trump launched a drone strike that resulted in the death of one of Iran’s biggest military leaders, Qassem Soleimani. The loss of this leader was devastating for many of Iran’s people, but it was unclear whether his death would improve conditions in Iran or the U.S.  This caused tension not only between the Iranian and U.S. governments, but also within the U.S. government on the home front. People have a lot of different opinions on whether or not the U.S. should make any more moves on Iran, for moral and economic reasons.

Less than a month ago, all people were talking about was how Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for coordinating with the president of Ukraine against a political opponent, Joe Biden, and his son. Some people, including people in government positions, argue that President Donald Trump ordered the drone strike against Soleimani to distract from his impeachment and improve his approval ratings after receiving such bad press.

There was a lot of fear in the media surrounding the idea of a potential “World War III” between the U.S. and Iran, which other countries would inevitably get involved in. All of this tension and fear from both sides caused a passenger plane to be shot down in Iran because they believed it was hostile. It killed many people, but most were British or European, not American. Some believe that if anyone from the U.S. had been on the plane, it would have resulted in a large movement of retaliation from the United States military. This was one of many potentially devastating events that could occur as a result of continued hostility between Iran and other countries.

As a whole, the conflict has created a lot of tension across many countries. People on U.S. soil worry about the cost, in lives and money, of another major war in the Middle East. People in Iran worry about the consequences if they were to be attacked by a military force as large as the one in the U.S.. Government officials are treading lightly to avoid saying something that could result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, like it has in the past in conflicts such as the Vietnam War and the War in Iraq.