Newspapers on display at a newsstand in John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, the day after the Israeli-American attack on Iran, March 1, 2026. MICHAEL NAGLE / BLOOMBERG / GETTY IMAGES
Two days after the joint Israeli-US strikes against Iran on Saturday, February 28, the American press was divided. Some viewed the strikes as a show of strategic resolve, while others expressed concern about an escalation with uncertain consequences.
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Trump's war of trial and error in Iran
"A tyrant falls. Dangerous uncertainty begins," headlined The New York Times following the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at age 86, a symbol of the regime's hardening. Beyond the immediate effectiveness of the strikes in eliminating some of the regime's top figures, the question of what comes after Khamenei remains open, and the leading American daily, which leans Democratic and progressive, wondered what the leader's disappearance could mean for regional balance and US policy. "The Middle East confronts an unpredictable void," wrote The Times.
