Iran–USA War Explained: Why Did US & Israel Attack Iran Now? | By Ankit Singh | StudyIQ IAS English

Hello everyone, I'm Mangit and you're

watching study IQS English. In our

today's video, we'll talk about why our

countries like Iran on one hand and US

and Israel on another are at war with

each other. Now at the dawn of 28th of

February, the explosions were heard

around many different regions across the

district and they were very close to the

offices of the supreme leader Ayatala

Ali Kuwani. Now it was the Israel who

dealt the first blow in active

cooperation with US and now Israel has

declared a state of emergency and they

have braced themselves for retaliation

from the Iranian side. Now it was US who

has provided logistical and material

support to Israel and this is declared

as a preemptive strike on Iran. Now in

our today's video we'll divide the

discussions into multiple halves. First

we'll discuss what is the trigger point

for this war and were there any efforts

made in order to cool down the tensions.

So we'll also try to understand what

were the demands of both of the sides in

order to not fight the war and why this

did not materialize. Similarly, we'll

also try to understand whenever any

country goes to war, it has certain kind

of objectives in mind. So what are the

war objectives for Iran and US for that

matter and we'll also try to understand

what will be the consequence of this war

not on just this region but across the

world economy and for that matter India

also. So we'll try to divide our

discussion into multiple different

segments. Let us start with the first

segment. But before that if you want to

download the notes you should because

these are important from your exams

perspective. You can go to this

particular telegram channel called as

ATS live and download them. And while

you're at it please do not forget to

subscribe to the channel also. So let us

first understand what is the reason for

the conflict between Iran and US and the

reason is Iran's nuclear program. Now

for a long period of time it was US who

did not wanted the Iran to have a

nuclear program and to force Iran in

order to back down US imposed what is

called as a maximum pressure policy.

Under maximum pressure policy US impose

severe economic sanctions on Iran in

order to its economy so that

Iran does not have any option but to

come to a negotiating table. Now on

other hand Iran has maintained that it

is always open to the negotiation but

provided it is the US who should lift

the sanctions first. Now when these

negotiations were happening the

negotiations were made more complex by a

demand that was raised by an ally of US

called as Israel. Now Israel was of the

opinion that while you're signing a

nuclear deal with Iran, why don't you

force Iran also to limit the range of

its ballistic missiles. Now Iran

considers this demand of Israel as a red

line. So Iran did not agree to this

demand. Okay. So what did we understand?

The trigger point for this conflict is

Iran's nuclear program. It is not that

US earlier has not tried to curb the

Iran's nuclear program. In 2015, if you

can recall, it was Iran who agreed to

sign a nuclear deal with countries like

US, other permanent members of the

United States, United Nations Security

Council and also another important

global power that is Germany. This deal

was called as joint comprehensive plan

of action. Under this nuclear deal, Iran

agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear

activities and in return it offered

inspections to be done of its nuclear

facilities by international inspectors

belonging to the International Atomic

Energy Agency. And the benefit that Iran

got out of this deal was that US and

Western countries would lift the

economic sanctions they have imposed on

Iran earlier. Now let us deal or let us

understand this deal in a bit more

detail. Now to make nuclear weapons you

need to enrich uranium because the

naturally available uranium is not what

you can call a file material. So to take

out the file material like uranium 235

or uranium 238 out of the natural

uranium that uranium needs to go through

a process which is called as enrichment.

So for weapons grade uranium you need

more than 90% enriched uranium but to

generate power out of that uranium you

only need about 3 to 5% of enriched

uranium. So Iran agreed under this JCPOA

agreement to enrich uranium up to 3.67%

and the stockpile that it will maintain

of this much level enriched uranium

would be worth 300 kg. Now this was

enough for Iran to generate nuclear

power out of this enriched uranium. But

it was not enough for Iran to make

nuclear weapons out of this agreed level

of nuclear enrichment. Now in exchange,

US offered that they will uh lift most

of the economic sanctions that they have

imposed on Iraq. So you'd think in 2015

this situation reached a stalemate where

both countries agreed that they will

lift the economic sanction and Iran

would limit its nuclear program. But

things went south when Trump was elected

to the office of United States President

for the first time in 2018. Trump pulled

out of this JCPOA agreement and again

implemented those crippling economic

sanctions on Iran and to your surprise

even after the successor of Trump who

was Joe Biden when he became the

president he did not lift those economic

sanctions. So the relations between Iran

and US sard because of the decision of

US to pull out of this agreement which

all the major powers and Iran signed in

the first place. Now to create pressures

on um what you can call US what Iran did

that it started to enrich more and more

uranium. It started to increase the

level of enrichment and it also increase

the amount of enriched uranium that it

stored. Now it was IAEA which in May

2025 reported that Iran had stockpiled

more than 400 kg of highlyenriched

uranium. What do I mean by

highlyenriched uranium? This is enriched

uranium worth 60%. Now at 60% enriched

uranium, you need to understand Iran was

much closer to a weapons grade uranium

which requires over 90% of enrichment

than it was before when it had signed

GCPA because it only agreed Iran to let

enriched uranium up to 3.67%.

So no non-uclear weapon state presently

is known to keep such highly enriched

uranium. And why did Iran did that? Iran

did in order to pressurize US in order

to become the part of JCPOA. Now this

was when the situation between US and

Iran went very south. Now it was not

that both of the countries did not

wanted to discuss this matter

diplomatically. Both of these countries

had multiple rounds of talk and in these

multiple rounds of talk US wanted Iran

to abandon all its aspects of its

nuclear program and also agree that it

will not build nuclear weapons. It will

not enrich any uranium at all. Forget

about that 3.67% enrichment also Iran

will not be allowed to do that. and Iran

in case if it possesses any enriched

uranium it should hand over those

enriched uranium and will not produce

any more in the future. So this was an

absolute demand from the US side that

Iran should agree to not continue

nuclear weapon program at all and it

should give up any enriched uranium that

it has in its stockpile. Now on the

other hand it was Iran who argued that

its nuclear program was civilian in

nature. Iran like US was a signary to

the nuclear non-prololiferation treaty

which gives any signary of NPT the right

to use the nuclear power for its

peaceful purposes. Peaceful purposes

means health power generation etc. So

Iran felt that it is its inherent right

to generate nuclear power which has

become non-negotiable and it was US

which was denying them this very right

in the first place by s signing this

crippling deal. So that is why this

situation reached a stalemate. Both of

these countries had very entrenched

position on the negotiation and that is

why these negotiations did not lead to

the cooling down of tensions and as a

result what we see the declaration of

war has happened. So now that the

declaration of war has happened, let us

understand what is the objective or what

is the end result countries like US and

Israel want in the first place. US's

priority which has been highlighted

multiple times by its President Donald

Trump is that they want a regime change

in Iran. Now Iran's leadership on one

hand which is led by supreme leader Ayat

Ali Khamei has been repressive. There is

no doubt about that. They have multiple

times they have crushed the protest.

They have tried to curb down the

disscent and many Iranians themselves

have risked their lives in order to

protest against the regime. But you need

to understand howsoever brutal the

Iranians regime it is it is a matter

between Iranian people and the Iranian

government any external actor like US

like Israel they do not have any moral

right to create an attack on a sovereign

country. So this first war objective is

actually a objective by US which

inherently is wrong morally. Similarly,

what you need to understand the second

objective that US wants to achieve out

of this war is for Iran to give up its

nuclear program. And US has argued that

if nuclear weapons would come in hands

of Iran, it would make the region of

Middle East which is already very

unstable more unstable. So it will

create a destabilizing impact on the

region of Middle East. Now you need to

understand for that matter even this

argument of western countries are

morally wrong. Why it is morally wrong?

Because nuclear weapons are

catastrophic. There is no doubt about

that. But they are catastrophic

everywhere. Right? It is US and Israel

who already have a nuclear weapon. So

why Iran is making a nuclear weapon?

Because it wants to establish a

deterrence in the region. So deterance

cannot be a privilege of a few

countries. Deterance should be achieved

if it is to be achieved at all. And

every country has a moral right to

achieve the deterrence. So what we

understand from this objective that in

reality only some states would want to

possess this ultimate weapon of nuclear

weapons and other countries like Iran

may be bombed in order to prevent them

from becoming a nuclear weapon state. So

these are the two objectives which we

have established is a morally wrong

objective. Now let us understand what

would be the consequence of this war.

First cost or first consequence of any

war is the human cost. Now escalation

whenever it has happened from the IR

Israeli and the American side and the

retaliation to this escalation is

inevitable and as we have seen by the

time I was recording this video the

Israel uh sorry Iran for that matter has

attacked places like Abu Dhabi. It has

attacked places like Bahin and Kuwait

which is targeting multiple US bases.

Now civilian casualties in this case is

almost inevitable and you need to

understand it is Iran who possesses one

of the largest regional ars of uh drones

as well as of missiles and it has

demonstrated its capacity in the past by

launching hundreds of projectiles in the

direction of Israel. Now also for that

matter you need to understand US has

many important bases in the region

including its largest base in Kuwait

sorry in Qatar which is known as Aludu

base. Now, Israel for that matter and

Iran can also use its proxy in order to

continue this war. So for that matter,

Hezbollah and other regional militias

could be activated and this could

transform this regional conflict into a

full-fledged world war. Right? So this

is the first cost that is the human

cost. Second cost is obviously geography

and economy and this is where the

location of Iran becomes very important

because Iran is located north of what is

an important region called as state of

Hormos. Now straight or foremost is very

important as far as global trade in

fossil fuels is concerned and it is very

close to the region where the conflict

is happening. Now any serious conflict

in and around the state of Formos has a

potential to disrupt global shipping

which would send global prices of crude

oil or it would skyrocket the global

prices of crude oil which would trigger

inflationary shocks not just in this

region but across the globe. Now when

energy prices like the prices of crude

oil rise it leads to increase in

transportation cost and ultimately

creates inflation everywhere. To deal

with this inflation central banks across

the world would increase the interest

rate and this would put a negative

pressure on the global economic growth.

So there is a chance if this war

prolongs there would be a risk of

recession globally. Now the next

consequence is for India. You need to

understand India is a net importer of

crude oil. So much so that last year

India imported as much as 88% of its

crude oil requirement. India being

world's third largest oil consumer

relies on key markets of Middle East to

source its crude oil. 40% of India's

total crude oil you need to understand

they come from where? They come from

state of Hormos and if this war

continues first of all the prices of

crude oil will rise which will lead to

what is called as imported inflation in

India. Similarly, what you need to

understand whenever the price of crude

oil rises by $1, it increases India's

import annually by how much? By $2

billion. So, this will create a negative

impact on India's current account

deficit, it will enlarge. When India's

current account deficit would enlarge

in, its import costs will increase and

this would put a downward pressure on

Indian rupee, which mean rupee would

depreciate. Now, another consequence is

how long this war would continue. Now to

fight this war there are multiple ways

to fight this war. One common and the

more conventional way to find a fight a

war is to send your army into the

country that is called as boots on

ground strategy. Now on US's part this

strategy is highly unlikely to happen

because first of all this kind of

intervention directly in form of sending

military creates uh risks of your

military's death and this is

unacceptable to the core vote bank who

gives vote to the Republican party as

well as Donald Trump called as make

America great again voter base. So this

is not likely to happen. So what is

going to happen is a small scale very

predicted attack on important

infrastructure in the region especially

by doing bombardment to deal with or to

threaten the regime and its sanctity.

Now this regime first of all the regime

which is led by Atala Ali Komi has been

already weakened because of decades long

economic sanctions that have been

imposed by the west and many western

countries think that bombing is an end

result that it would the regime

and it would lead to establishment of a

new democratic regime. But you need to

understand this kind of a strategy in

the past has failed in Middle East. What

US did, it bombed the living daylights

in Iraq and this created the removal of

Saddam Hussein. But it did not yield a

democratic shift in the Iraqi society.

It yielded or it resulted into deep

insurgency, secretarian war and it led

to years of instability. And same thing

even continued in Syria. Syria which was

already under civil war, external

bombardment fragmented the situation

rather than solving it. And in both

these countries because of the

consequences of a long conflict it led

to emergence of an even radical

organization known as ISIS. Right?

Similarly what happened in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan two decades worth of

intervention by America in order to

establish a puppet democratic government

did not yield results and ultimately

when US withdrew from Afghanistan who

came back into power? It was Taliban who

came into power. So what does history

tell us? History tell us that pure

bombardment done in any country without

any active boots on ground strategy

results into instability and this

instability might also happen in Iran

because US is not learning from the

history. Similarly, what you have to

understand that the regime which is

currently in place in Iran is a regime

which depends on authoritarianism and

this Iran's nuclear and missile

facilities have been dispersed and it

has been hardened because many of these

facilities are remained meters

underground. Now even if US does aerial

bombardment in Iran, it might partially

damage and it may delay even the end

result of the Iranian nuclear program.

But if there is also a chance there is a

chance that it can accelerate the

nuclear program of Iran in order to

establish the deterrence between the

parties. Now historical precedence or

historical understanding it suggests

that any external attack it basically

does not threaten the hardline regime.

It strengthens the hardline regime

because whenever any conflict happens it

allows the hardline regime to

consolidate the nationalist sentiment.

And this is where more of the moderate

vices or more of the moderate opinions

in the society are curbed. So this is

what is more likely to happen because of

this unstability which the uh America

and Israelis are the result for. Now

before we move into the question which

might be asked in the UPSC exam, there

is a very important announcement. Right

now we are starting with a holy sale. In

this holy sale, you are going to get

discounts on all the courses. Please

understand for 2027 and 2028. If you're

really serious about your UPSC attempt,

you should consider taking admissions in

a foundation batches and in holi you'll

get up to 55% off. So this is flat 55%

off which is offered only during the

holi. So please utilize this

opportunity. Get the admission at the

earliest possible date. And this is the

kind of question that can be asked in

the exam. Consider the following

countries. Which one of these countries

share a direct coastline with the state

of Formos? We have already covered state

of Formos. I even showed you the map. So

you can go and refer to the map and let

me know the correct answers in the

comment section. Okay. Also, what do you

feel about this war? Is US and Israel

morally justified to attack a sovereign

country? And is this a morally justified

option in order to deny Iran from

getting a nuclear weapon? Please, please

do let me know your opinion in the

comment section. I am waiting for it.

And to download the notes, you can go to

this particular Telegram channel which

is called as ATS life. Okay. So this is

all from my side for today. Please have

a very good day. We'll see there again

quite