NEW YORK — The United States launched a sweeping series of strikes against Iran over the weekend under the banner of Operation Epic Fury, jolting a country that had not been primed for war and igniting a rapid clash of narratives at home and at the United Nations.
Many Americans awoke to the news with confusion and unease. “No one in my circle ever talks about Iran,” a New Yorker told RTÉ News, adding he felt less safe and was unsure about gathering in public spaces.
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President Donald Trump addressed the Iranian public directly as the operation began. “To the proud great people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand,” he wrote on social media. In a later written post, he asserted that Iran’s supreme leader was dead: “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead.”
The abrupt escalation stood in contrast to the long, public buildup that preceded the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when the administration’s case—however contested—was pressed in international forums. This week, the administration’s messaging was sporadic and mostly online. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after a briefing by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the White House needed to present a clear rationale to the American people.
The strikes immediately fractured opinion within Trump’s own political base. Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson called the action “absolutely disgusting and evil,” warning, “This is going to shuffle the deck in a profound way.” Former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene invoked the human cost of prior Middle East wars, writing, “We said no more,” and argued that Iranians should “liberate themselves,” while casting doubt on claims about Tehran’s nuclear advances.
Others on the right cheered the offensive. Sen. Lindsey Graham described it as the most consequential decision by a U.S. president in decades. “Because of President Trump’s understanding of the evil nature of this regime, he has set in motion its demise,” he said. Rep. Rick Scott added, “If you threaten the United States, if you threaten our allies, you lose. The red, white and blue wins.”
At the U.N. Security Council, one of the few venues where Washington and Tehran directly confront each other, the U.S. and Iran traded accusations in an emergency session. U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz said Operation Epic Fury targeted “specific and strategic” objectives: dismantling missile capabilities that threaten U.S. partners, degrading naval assets that destabilize international waters, and disrupting machinery arming proxy militias. He blamed Iran’s support for groups including the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas for “bloodshed and disorder across the Middle East for far too long.”
Iran’s Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani accused the United States and Israel of “deliberately attacking civilian populated urban areas,” calling the strikes “a war crime and a crime against humanity” and a violation of international law. Waltz rejected that as “farcical,” prompting a tense exchange in which Iravani urged him “to be polite,” and Waltz countered that Iran’s regime had killed “tens of thousands of its own people” and imprisoned many more.
Russia and China condemned the U.S. and Israeli actions, with Russia’s U.N. envoy Vassily Nebenzia saying Washington had opened a “Pandora’s box.” Britain and France pressed for restraint and de-escalation while directing their censure at Iran’s retaliatory strikes on other countries in the region; France said it stood ready to help protect those states upon request. Bahrain’s ambassador denounced Iran’s attacks after missile fire targeted the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in the kingdom.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned actions on both sides and urged Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations “to pull the region, and our world, back from the brink.” The alternative, he said, is “a potential wider conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.”
As Washington presses its case that Operation Epic Fury was designed to blunt imminent threats, the lack of a sustained public rollout, the swift polarization among Republicans, and the combustible scenes at the Security Council underscore how quickly U.S.-Iran tensions have veered toward a broader crisis—and how uncertain the path forward remains.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
