Seven Days of US-Israel War on Iran: Seven Unanswered Questions

The joint US-Israel military campaign targeting Iran has entered its seventh day, codenamed "Epic Fury" by the US and "Roaring Lion" by Israel. According to the Iranian Red Crescent, the attacks have killed 1,230 people, including dozens of children at a primary school in Minab. Israel also launched airstrikes on Lebanon, leaving 217 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the hostilities. No official successor has been named. President Trump declared his desire for Iran's "unconditional surrender." The entire Middle East region is descending into chaos.

Seven days. 1,230 dead in Iran. Dozens of children killed in a school. The supreme leader of a nation of 90 million people is dead. And Washington still has no clear answer to the most fundamental question: What does the end of this war look like? Trump says he wants "unconditional surrender." Netanyahu says he wants to destroy the nuclear program — despite Trump himself previously claiming he had "wiped it out" last summer. These are two conflicting goals, put forth by two leaders who don't truly believe each other. This is a campaign that has lacked a clear strategic doctrine from day one. History has warned of this. Afghanistan 2001. Iraq 2003. Both of those wars were hailed as quick victories — only to drag on for decades, ending in chaos and a power vacuum. Iran is not Iraq. This is a nation with twice the population, a far more complex terrain, and a network of proxies stretching from Lebanon to Yemen to Iraq. Bombs can destroy infrastructure — but they cannot destroy ideology or the hatred accumulated over generations. The US and Israel's encouragement of internal opposition groups, including the Kurds, to revolt is an extremely dangerous gamble. If successful, Iran could fragment into many pieces — a scenario that the region's neighbors themselves do not want. A fragmented Iran would be worse than a hostile but intact Iran. International reaction is deeply divided. Several Gulf states have suffered damage from Iranian missiles and drones — UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Azerbaijan and Cyprus have also been affected. This is no longer just a regional conflict; it risks spreading in directions no one can control. Within the US, the far-right evangelical Christian faction views this war as part of a "holy war" leading to Armageddon. This is not the majority view — but these are voices that directly influence the Trump administration's policies. When theology interferes with military decisions, the outcome is often unpredictable. The seventh — and most important — question no one has dared to ask aloud is: Who will pay the price for all of this, and will that price be worth any of the objectives being pursued?

First-generation Vietnamese refugee elders in communities like Garden Grove or Houston — those who lived through the Vietnam War — observe this conflict with familiar apprehension: a Western superpower attacking a nation without commensurate defensive capabilities, for reasons that shift daily. Memories of bombs falling on civilians never fade. The second generation — especially those working in foreign policy, international law, or national security in Washington — are facing real internal pressure: how to evaluate a war their own government is waging, when there are no clear objectives and civilian casualties are rapidly mounting? Vietnamese-American investors in Southern California and Texas need to pay attention to the economic impact: global oil prices are fluctuating wildly due to instability in the Middle East, and this directly affects transportation costs, inflation, and real estate portfolios, which are sensitive to interest rates.