By Mallory Mankin, Staff Writer
Operation Roaring Lion and Operation Epic Fury commenced on Feb. 28, 2026, when Israel and the United States bombed Iran. The attacks targeted key nuclear development sites and killed the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as well as other top officials. Among those reported killed were Iran’s defense minister, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces and the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, along with many others.
Wheaton’s political science and international relations department quickly responded to the events with a “hot topic event” announcement. The department has used this lecture series for years to respond to major news moments and provide academic commentary on the matter. In a Memorial Student Center classroom, many students and faculty gathered on March 4 to hear Michael McKoy, department chair and associate professor of politics and international relations, speak as a scholar of conflict and regime change in the Middle East.
His goal was to outline the aims and implications of the attacks on Iran and discuss possible next steps of the nations involved. Yet, McKoy conceded, the objectives of the Trump administration are less evident, for there was little public discussion in the U.S. before the attacks.
Regime change was one possible aim that McKoy mentioned as he compared the Iranian strike to the military action two months prior in Venezuela. The capture of Nicolás Maduro has prompted leadership change and government restructuring.
“This is a decapitation on a much more massive scale,” McKoy said regarding U.S. strikes against Iran.
U.S.-Iranian relations have been tense for roughly 47 years, since the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, when Iranian students seized the American embassy — invading U.S. territory — and captured approximately 50 Americans, who were held hostage for 444 days. McKoy pointed out that that animosity between the two countries has persisted in the U.S. for almost half a century.
Legal implications of the war were also discussed, like the bombing of an Iranian elementary school where over 150 schoolchildren died. The United Nations Education Agency called such strikes “a grave violation of humanitarian law.”
Phoebe Tanacea, a third-year international relations student, raised her concerns about the strikes, to which fellow students commented that the school was near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base.
Speaking up from the back of the room, David Iglesias, director of the Center for Faith, Politics and Economics, mentioned the 1999 strikes on Yugoslavia, when the U.S. accidentally bombed a Chinese Embassy.
He compared that tragedy to the Iranian school bombing, suggesting it may have been an accident as well.
Several students involved in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program were also in attendance at the lecture and asked questions about whether there would be more strikes. McKoy said that Trump was currently amenable to regime change and willing to negotiate a deal. Yet, the conflict had arisen, in part, because of the destruction of communication, trade, and other networks in the Middle East.
The Trump administration additionally claimed that strikes on Iran were to eliminate their nuclear capabilities, including its missile programs. Previous negotiations had attempted to limit Iran’s nuclear development, including agreements that restricted uranium enrichment. The Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) was negotiated and signed by President Barack Obama, but the U.S. pulled out of the deal during Trump’s first term.
To offer support for the strikes, the Trump administration also pointed to the calls for Iranian freedom from a totalitarian regime, as thousands of Iranians had been protesting in the streets against political repression. Trump urged more Iranians to go to the streets, claiming that the United States would stand with them. On Jan. 9 of 2026, the Supreme Leader ordered the Supreme National Security Council to quell the protests with permission to “shoot to kill.” More than 36,500 Iranians were killed during this crackdown.
“So why didn’t we do this a month ago?” McKoy asked rhetorically. “Because a lot of the naval capabilities and air capabilities that we used were off the coast of Venezuela,” he said, answering his own question.
Entrapment and diversionary motives were also brought up as possible reasons for striking Iran. The former being a case in which you either join or be attacked, the latter being a leader starting a war as an attempt to distract from problems at home.
The conversation then shifted to talk about the implications of the attacks. McKoy brought up the structure of the Iranian government, its oddities creating “some amount of stability.” Though the country is holding, there was no clear leader or appointed successor until recently. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was named to succeed his father, in keeping with totalitarian regime traditions.
“It’s not uncommon, especially when you have a very long-running dictator, that dictatorship becomes a dynasty,” McKoy said.
Another issue discussed was congressional authorization for military action. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, even though the president serves as commander in chief. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified the “Gang of Eight” — senior members of Congress who are traditionally briefed on sensitive intelligence matters — before the strikes on Iran. McKoy asked the students whether the U.S. was developing a policy trend of customarily telling Congress, but not asking for permission, when the president wants to use military force.
“It really has made me wonder whether we have slouched into a new kind of standard about what it means to get congressional authorization,” McKoy said. “No boots, no casualties, no Congress.”
Students latched onto the possibility of sending U.S. troops into conflict. Some even asked about the possibility of a long-term occupation or proxy. While the U.S. has a “deep desire for not that,” according to McKoy, students were still worried about the possibility.
Molly Holbert, a junior international relations student, is praying for a speedy end to the war.
“I would encourage my fellow students to pray for peace and wisdom for world leaders and to stay informed on updates as they unfold.”
