Update on Iran-Israel conflict

On Friday, June 13, 2025, Israel began their attacks on Iran. These attacks had massive effects on Iran’s military chain of command.

Israel and Iran have continued to trade attacks as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, said in a national address that Iran will not surrender.

Although the U.S. has not implemented military intervention in the Iran-Israel conflict, President Donald Trump has signaled the U.S. could possibly enter the conflict.

Shirvin Zeinalzadeh, Graduate Teaching Associate at the School of Politics and Global Studies at ASU, joined “Arizona Horizon” to share more insight on the Iran-Israel conflict.

“Everyday is getting closer to some kind of solution be that a involvement in this conflict directly by the United States or through some kind of plea for diplomacy in which all parties come together,” Zeinalzadeh said.

Zeinalzadeh reflected on President Trump’s statements saying that those in Tehran should evacuate the city.

“But the importance of that is what we should really look at. Is it a message to say leave now because we’re, there’s going to be some kind of consequence or risk to life. Or is it a message to try to sew some kind of instability in Iran amongst the people and the government,” Zeinalzadeh said.

He also reflected on how this conflict is affecting alliances in the Middle East.

“Across the Middle East I think many countries have conveyed shock at what’s happening and everybody is just watching the events unfold. Don’t forget, it’s only been six days, seven days now. So there’s a lot of uncertainty, particularly for the Persian Gulf countries that are traditionally aligned with Iran, Qatar most notably. But others have approached Israel, there are normalization of ties now between Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates and Israel. So they’re in a very difficult situation because both also enjoy reasonably good ties with Iran. But it’s about what happens in the region afterwards that I think most people are concerned about,” Zeinalzadeh said.