For decades, Iran’s confrontation with the United States and Israel was largely fought indirectly — through regional allies, armed groups, covert operations, sanctions and the long-running nuclear dispute.
Then the boundaries began to collapse.
This documentary continues the story from October 7, 2023 and the Gaza war, as the conflict expanded to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, and eventually direct military exchanges between Iran and Israel.
In 2024, Iran and Israel began attacking each other directly.
In 2025, Israel launched a major military campaign against Iran, followed by U.S. strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
But the nuclear dispute did not end.
In early 2026, the United States and Iran returned to negotiations while military forces were building up across the region.
Then, on February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a major attack on Iran. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed, and Iran responded with missiles and drones as the conflict spread across the region.
Why did diplomacy fail to prevent another war?
Why did Ali Khamenei become a target?
And why does the Strait of Hormuz make a war in the Middle East capable of affecting oil prices, inflation and economies around the world?
This is the continuation of IRAN WAR 2026 — CLIP 1: the story of how decades of proxy conflict became direct war.
Current-events information in this documentary is updated through September 26, 2026.
MEDIA CREDITS & LICENSES
Licensed media attribution is provided in the end credits.
Source and license information:
CC BY 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons
Khamenei.ir / English.Khamenei.ir / Mehr News Agency /
Tasnim News Agency / Mina Noei / Fatemeh Sadat Mirahmadi /
Hossein Zohrevand / Mahmoud Hosseini
Sources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mojtaba_Khamenei_and_Ali_Larijani.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seyyed_Ali_Khamenei_in_meeting_of_Vietnamese_President.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ayatollah_Khamenei_Planting_saplings_on_Iran%E2%80%99s_National_Tree_Planting_Day_(20).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ayatollah_Khamenei_Television_Address_to_the_Iranian_Nation_(November_27,_2025)_04.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Funeral_ceremony_for_Ayatollah_Khamenei.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iran_233432khamenei_funeral_60867166087828.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:State_funeral_of_Ali_Khamenei.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_burial_place_of_Khamenei_and_his_family.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nasrallah_Khamenei_Soleimani.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Imam_Khamenei_met_with_Emir_of_Qatar,_Feb._19,_2025_7.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meeting_of_the_Commander_of_the_Pakistani_Army_with_the_President_14_(Mehr,_2026).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meeting_of_the_Foreign_Ministers_of_Iran_and_Oman_32_(Tasnim,_2025).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ayatollah_Ali_Khamenei_in_2016.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Imam_Khamenei_with_his_son,_Ayatollah_Sayyid_Mojtaba_Khamenei.jpg
CC BY 4.0:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Some material was cropped, edited or excerpted;
details are listed in the end credits.
GODL-INDIA
Prime Minister’s Office, Government of India /
Press Information Bureau, 2024
“PM Narendra Modi meeting President of Iran
Masoud Pezeshkian in Kazan (2024) 02,”
via Wikimedia Commons.
Cropped/Edited.
Source:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PM_Narendra_Modi_meeting_President_of_Iran_Masoud_Pezeshkian_in_Kazan_(2024)_02.jpg
License:
https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP_OpenDataLicense.pdf
CC0 / PUBLIC DOMAIN
Rezaezatiofficial, Yoram Sorek and Shmuel Harel /
Wikimedia Commons.
PUBLIC DOMAIN — U.S. GOVERNMENT
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD),
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM),
DVIDS, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy,
U.S. Air Force and The White House.
Public Domain footage/images include:
Operation Epic Fury,
Operation Midnight Hammer,
U.S. precision-strike footage,
USS Abraham Lincoln,
USS Mahan,
USS Gerald R. Ford,
USS Delbert D. Black,
B-1B, B-2 Spirit and HIMARS.
MAPS / SATELLITE IMAGERY — PUBLIC DOMAIN
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA):
“The Bab el-Mandeb Strait”
NASA LANCE FIRMS:
Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan satellite imagery.
Full individual media attribution and modification notices
are provided in the end credits.
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