On June 22, 2025, the U.S. sent strikes to three nuclear facilities in Iran after threats of nuclear warfare against America were made. In retaliation, Iran launched missiles at U.S. military bases in Qatar.
Fast forward almost a year later, as plans were left undecided, the president sent missile strikes to different provinces across the country of Iran, including the province of Tehran, killing the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
After a missile launch against Iran by the United States and Israel on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, speculation of attacks in America have left its citizens concerned.
The Union sent reporters out on Wednesday, March 4, where they asked different students on campus their reactions on the missile attack and what it means as a whole.
Sophia Cervantes, 26, studio and fine arts major
“I think Donald Trump is a puppet of billionaires and lobbyists who are trying to advance their profits in oil wars, and everything that we do is about maintaining fossil fuels and maintaining the reliance on fossil fuels because that’s how they control the global markets; and so everything that we’re seeing right now is an advancement of power, its power place. It has nothing to do with American safety or national security or anything like that.”
Luke Johnson, 18, film major
“Because I’ve been so desensitized to all the wars that have been happening, I kind of was hit with, oh, another missile. I am kind of shocked at the message it sends. Normally, we’ve not attacked any… now we found out Iran doesn’t have any nuclear weapons. It kind of shows a message that if you don’t have nuclear weapons, you’re not safe, which should be the opposite. I think no one should have nuclear weapons.”
Angelina Lemus, 20, liberal studies major
“I have a lot of family in the military, so it’s scary to think there’s a possibility where we can be at war. It’s sad to hear so many people dying. That’s not what the presidency is supposed to be about. Just be updated on everything and just try to be nice to everyone, world peace, and hopefully whatever we give out to the world will come back to us.”
Aster Raulerson, 20, psychobiology student
“I was surprised, but also not… I feel like war with Iran was inevitable because with how Israel and America have been..they’ve wanted that land for a while now, it just made me kind of scared about the state of the world and how this might escalate into a possible third World War, and how apparently Pete Hegseth and Trump in like a briefing with the military said that they were doing this as like preparing for the Armageddon using religious reasoning, I think that’s ridiculous, this is not the Crusades, this is humans lives.”
Jo Cowan, 22, elementary education major
“The fact that we’re also attacking civilians and we have no regard for human life in this country is messed up. You know, they want us to feel hopeless, they want us to feel like there’s nothing we can do, so one of the best forms of resistance is staying strong and being hopeful, living happily in ways you can.”