So Iran and the US clearly don’t like each other but plenty of people are making assumptions about who’s to blame and when everyone is getting drafted without even being able to point Iran out on a map. Iran and the US have been at it for a very long time. Since 1979 to be exact.

But the boogaloo that occurred in the first week of January stems from an attack on a US embassy in Iraq.  The attack on the embassy was a sort of revenge from previous US airstrikes on hostile militiamen in the region. Based on US sources the militiamen were Iranian backed and decided to attack the US embassy as retribution.

On the 2nd of January, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced that the US would preemptively strike Iranian backed militias in Iraq if they were suspected of coordinating attack. Hours after this announcement, Major General Qasem Soleimani, leader of Iranian Quds force, was killed by a US airstrike.

Previously the Quds force and Iranian Republican Guard were labeled as terrorist organizations and the US used this as justification. The main justification was that Soleimani was apparently plotting a large scale attack.

Iran, being obviously outraged by the assassination of a top ranking officer decided to retaliate on the 8th of January, Iran launched a multiple missile strike against three US bases in Iraq. The missiles did not cause any US casualties and did minimal damage to US bases. Although during the incident both nations had prepared fighter aircraft for combat, and Iran had threatened to attack two other countries had the US launched aircraft from them, the situation that almost erupted in war, was quickly cooled down.

In the morning, Donald Trump announced heavier sanctions against Iran.

So, what does that mean? That means nothing serious is going to happen.