Since the 1979 revolution, Iran's regime has conducted terrorist attacks and assassinations in more than 20 countries. In July 2018, authorities foiled the regime's terrorist plot against Iranian dissidents living in Paris. In 2019, the regime kidnapped a journalist in Iraq and killed an opposition figure in Turkey.

Timeline of the operation President Trump and Vice President Vance in the Situation Room on June 21 during the strikes President Trump delivers his announcement. On June 22, the United States Air Force and Navy attacked three Iranian nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, in an operation called "Midnight Hammer".

Geographically, the U.S. mainland lies around 11,000 km to the East Coast from Iran -- a distance that only Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) can cover. Thus, as long as Iran lacks perational ICBMs, there is no direct missile threat to lives on American soil—at least for now.