Last year, Iranian media reported that Tehran used a new missile, the Fattah-1, in attacks on Israel. Tehran describes it as a “hypersonic” missile. But analysts point out that almost all ballistic missiles reach hypersonic speed during their flights.

Starting on 17 October 2023, and in response to United States support for Israel in the Gaza war, Iran-backed militias initiated a coordinated series of more than 170 attacks on US military bases and assets in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. These attacks resulted in injuries to dozens of US service members.

The United States attributes the worsening of relations to the 1979–81 Iran hostage crisis, Iran's repeated human rights abuses since the Islamic Revolution, different restrictions on using spy methods on democratic revolutions by the US, its anti-Western ideology and its nuclear program.