Four days into a conflict that has reshaped the Middle East, the United States and Israel are prosecuting their most ambitious joint military campaign in a generation, one in which digital warfare has been openly elevated to the same rank as missiles and bombs. The death toll inside Iran has climbed to at least 787, according to Al Jazeera's casualty tracker, with the conflict showing no sign of a quick resolution.
The operation, codenamed Operation Epic Fury by Washington and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel, began in the early hours of 28 February 2026. Beginning on 28 February, Israel and the United States launched coordinated joint attacks on various sites in Iran, targeting key Iranian officials, military commanders and facilities, with regime change stated as the aim. The opening salvo was devastating in scope. The Israeli Air Force said it struck 500 military targets in western and central Iran, including air defences and missile launchers, using approximately 200 fighter jets in the largest combat sortie in its history.
The conflict erupted on 28 February when the United States and Israel initiated coordinated airstrikes across Iran, targeting military installations, missile facilities, nuclear sites, and high-level officials, resulting in the deaths of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several other leaders. General Dan Caine later revealed that President Trump gave the final authorisation the previous Friday afternoon, with the order reading: "Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck."
Cyber Command steps into the light
Perhaps the most significant strategic disclosure to emerge from the Pentagon's Monday briefing was the unprecedented public acknowledgment of offensive cyber operations. Reporting by The Register highlights that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, discussed cyber operations in the same breath as land, air, and sea domains. "The first movers were US CYBERCOM and US SPACECOM layering non-kinetic effects, disrupting and degrading and blinding Iran's ability to see, communicate and respond," Caine said.
Caine's acknowledgment signals a continued willingness by US military leaders to publicly describe cyber capabilities as an embedded element of large-scale combat operations, rather than as a separate, covert matter. The practical effect on the ground was profound. The cyberattacks resulted in a near-total internet blackout in Iran lasting over 60 hours, with connectivity dropping to as low as 1 to 4 per cent of normal levels, disrupting government communications, state media, and public services.
Beyond infrastructure disruption, the information campaign extended into psychological operations. The popular BadeSaba Calendar prayer app, with over 5 million downloads, was compromised to broadcast push notifications in Persian urging military personnel and citizens to defect, lay down weapons, and join opposition forces. In the early hours of 3 March 2026, the complex of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, the state broadcaster's headquarters in Tehran, was hit in a separate Israeli air operation.
A regional war, not a contained strike
In response, Iran launched widespread missile and drone barrages against US military bases in Persian Gulf countries, as well as direct attacks on Israel, causing limited casualties and damage to both military and civilian infrastructure. The retaliation has been strikingly broad. Iran has launched strikes across nine countries in the region: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
An Iranian attack damaged a terminal at Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest air hub, while airports in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Kuwait also sustained damage from Iranian strikes. For Australia's substantial trade flows through the Gulf, these disruptions carry real economic weight. Oil prices have spiked and cargo routes are under pressure, with analysts warning of potential supply chain delays reaching as far as the Indo-Pacific.
In the hours after the initial strikes, Russia and China released statements in support of Iran, while Canada, Australia and Ukraine were among those who expressed support for the US and Israel. Canberra's position aligns with the ANZUS alliance, but it is not without political risk at home, particularly given Australia's growing exposure to Middle Eastern energy markets and the significant Iranian-Australian diaspora community.
The civilian cost and the legal questions
The most troubling dimension of the conflict remains the civilian toll. The deadliest single incident occurred in the city of Minab in southeastern Iran, where a strike on an elementary girls' school killed around 180 young children, according to Iran's Health Ministry. Iranian authorities also reported that the same type of missile was used to attack Gandhi Hospital in Tehran on Sunday; the hospital was badly damaged and patients were evacuated.
The legal basis for the operation has drawn sharp scrutiny. Trump's decision to proceed without a vote or even debate in Congress creates both constitutional problems and political challenges, and he provided only a cursory public justification once the bombs started dropping. From a WA standpoint, where the resources sector watches Persian Gulf stability with acute interest, the absence of a clear legal framework and a defined exit strategy raises legitimate questions about what comes next.
At the Pentagon briefing, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and General Caine declined to offer a specific timetable for the joint bombing campaign. Hegseth declined to give a timeframe but insisted the operation would not be "endless", saying: "This is not Iraq. This is not endless." Trump himself has spoken publicly of a campaign lasting four to five weeks, though officials have qualified that figure repeatedly.
A conflict without a clear endpoint
Proponents of the operation argue that Iran's nuclear ambitions and its support for proxy forces from Lebanon to Yemen constituted a genuine threat to regional stability, one that diplomacy had demonstrably failed to resolve. The attacks came when the Iranian regime was arguably at its weakest point in some years, with extensive protests in early 2026 put down with extensive use of force. The strikes followed the failure of recent indirect talks between the US and Iran on Iran's nuclear programme in early February 2026.
Critics, however, point to the profound uncertainty of the endgame. The deeply embedded networks and institutions that have underpinned the Islamic Republic for nearly half a century mean that, at least in the near term, the vestiges of the power structure hold an overwhelming advantage over any challengers. And cybersecurity firms are already warning that the digital front will not close when the kinetic campaign does. The conflict has no clear endpoint, and the cyber campaign will outlast the kinetic one; Iranian advanced persistent threat groups do not stand down when missiles stop flying.
What is clear from Perth, looking west toward a Middle East on fire, is that this conflict will test more than military hardware. It will test the resilience of global supply chains, the durability of alliances, and the willingness of democratic governments to be accountable for decisions made in the dark. Reasonable people can disagree sharply about whether Operation Epic Fury was necessary. The harder conversation, the one that deserves sober attention, is whether anyone has a credible plan for what comes after.