Iran in February 2026: the most important developments in security
Iran's February 2026 ended in open war. On 28 February Israel, with apparent US involvement, struck hundreds of sites inside Iran, reportedly killing senior officials, and explosions and air defense activity were reported in Tehran. Iran fired missiles at Israel and at US bases in the Gulf. Iran and Israel closed their airspace, Israel shut its offshore gas fields, and Iraq closed its airspace. Iranian state media said dozens of people, including schoolchildren, were killed in a strike on a girls' school in the south, with the toll still rising.
The strikes followed a month of US military buildup. US forces shot down an Iranian drone near the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on 3 and 4 February, and a second carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, moved toward the region along with more than 50 fighter jets. President Donald Trump said he was considering limited strikes and called a change of power in Iran the 'best thing'. Israel raised its alert level. Talks continued alongside. The United States called Iran's refusal to discuss ballistic missiles 'a big problem', and Trump said Iran was developing missiles able to reach the United States, a claim reportedly not backed by US intelligence, which Iran called 'big lies'. An IAEA report said Iran stored highly enriched uranium at an underground site.
In the Strait of Hormuz, Revolutionary Guard forces seized two tankers on 5 February. From 16 February the Guards' navy held drills there, and live-fire exercises on 17 February closed part of the waterway. Iran and Russia held joint naval drills, and reports described an arms deal with Russia for shoulder-fired missiles, valued at nearly $590 million or 500 million euros.
Inside Iran, authorities continued the crackdown that followed the January protests. Rights groups reported more than 50,000 arrests and a death toll estimated in the thousands, and reformist politicians were arrested. On 1 February Iran designated the armies of European Union countries as terrorist organizations, after the EU listed the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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