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Six months, shifting aims
The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, and ABC News says President Donald Trump told Americans the war was meant to "defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime," while Friday marked six months of conflict.
“The war began on Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes”
ABC News reports that Iran retaliated by attacking American bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, and that U.S. Central Command says it has hit more than 13,000 Iranian targets including military headquarters, naval ships, air defense systems and drone launch sites.
The same ABC News account says the war’s most consequential response came at sea when Iran shut down commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, turning the waterway into a central focus for reopening and blunting economic fallout.
ABC News also ties the human cost to the conflict, saying 18 U.S. service members have died and more than 750 have been wounded since the start of the war, and it adds that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers this summer the latest estimate for the cost of the war is more than $37.5 billion.
In Tehran, Al Jazeera reports Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian told state media that exports and imports had slumped nearly 35 percent because of sanctions and the blockade of Iranian ports, as Iran’s leaders acknowledged the economic toll while signaling they would not back down.
Diplomacy, defiance, and dissent
As the six-month mark arrived, AP News said Trump underscored that he is "in no rush" to seat Iran back at the negotiating table and he told reporters, "We don’t want to talk to them. We don’t seek to meet with them or anything."
AP News also reported that the administration said it would focus on increasing economic pressure instead of military action, centering on punishing any country or entity that continues doing business with Tehran.
In Tehran, Al Jazeera says Iran’s government described diplomacy and defence as "two complementary, coordinated and inseparable wings" for protecting national interests and territorial integrity, while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei urged the government to tackle hardship tied to inflation, unemployment, management of prices and the market for goods and services.
Al Jazeera adds that the government said it would pursue diplomacy and maintain what it says is control over the Strait of Hormuz, and it notes Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met Iranian leaders in Tehran on Thursday to stress returning to open shipping through the strait.
Meanwhile, AP News reported that Iran’s leadership has coalesced around hard-line military generals and clerics and that Mohsen Rezaei said, "If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported" from the Persian Gulf.
Allies, sanctions, and what’s at risk
The conflict’s consequences are spilling beyond Iran, with BBC reporting the Trump administration plans to cut off military aid to Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region by not renewing an expiring agreement providing security assistance to the Peshmerga.
“The memorandum of understanding between the Pentagon and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is set to expire on 30 September”
BBC says the memorandum of understanding is set to expire on 30 September, the same day the US and other nations are withdrawing their last remaining troops from Iraq, and it adds that the Peshmerga received $61m (£45m) in the fiscal year 2026 for weapons, military training and stipends.
BBC also reports Kurdish officials fear the funding cut would create a power vacuum and embolden Iran, and it quotes Yerevan Saeed saying, "This is going to be a big win for Iran, China, and Russia if the Kurds are left so exposed."
In Washington, AP News says the six-month milestone comes as the U.S. weighs depleting ammunition reserves after months of fighting, raising concerns that a prolonged conflict could undermine American military readiness elsewhere in the world.
Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed frames the stakes for Trump’s plans by citing that the Strait of Hormuz remains the key leverage point, while it says Trump insisted "the strait is open" and that 24 ships passed through in a single day, even as it contrasts that with a pre-war rate of about 130 ships per day.