U.S. Strikes on Iran: A Blow to Women, Peace, & Security
By: Aarohi Hemmady
“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will probably be your only chance for generations.”
On Saturday, February 28, the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran, with President Trump urging the Iranian people to “seize control of [their] destiny” by rising up against the Islamic leadership that has been in power since 1979. He emphasized that the strike should serve as a catalyst for Iranian peace and freedom. But, history has shown us that regime change is far easier to promise than achieve.
Although optically moral, this is the second time in eight months that the Trump administration has attacked the Islamic Republic during negotiations over its nuclear program. The justification remains consistent: Iran continues to develop nuclear capabilities. Yet only last year, the administration declared the program “obliterated” after an earlier round of strikes. If the threat was eliminated then, why does it persist now?
Reports indicate that the Ayatollah was killed in the attack, yet the regime change Trump and Netanyahu are promoting is not guaranteed. Neither the U.S. nor Israel have articulated a vision for what new leadership might look like. To encourage a population to “seize control” without presenting a roadmap is not strategy—it is abdication.
The global consequences could be immediate. The strikes could rattle global markets, especially if Iran is able to make the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for commercial traffic. Rather than formally closing the waterway, Tehran could rely on other tactics such as deploying naval mines or seizing tankers, creating enough uncertainty to deter shipping and spike insurance costs. One third of global oil exports transported by sea passed through the strait in 2025. Even minor disruptions could rattle energy markets, inflate fuel prices, and destabilize already fragile economies.
But beyond geopolitics and oil flows lies a deeper cost: one measured in civilian lives. The strikes reached two schools in Iran, killing more than 100 people. The first school was an elementary girls school in Minab, killing 108 people. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shared a photo of the attack, which he said destroyed the girls’ school and killed “innocent children.” “These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered,” Araghchi wrote in a post on X. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also slammed the “blatant crime” and urged action from the United Nations Security Council.
Separately, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that at least two students were killed by another Israeli attack that hit a school east of the capital, Tehran. There was no immediate reaction from the U.S. or Israel on Iran’s claims about the school strikes. That silence is unsettling. If the mission was precision and liberation, why are classrooms reduced to rubble?
Women and girls have long been at the center of Iran’s struggle for reform. From the protests following Mahsa Amini’s death to ongoing demands for bodily autonomy and political representation, Iranian women have risked improvement and violence to claim their rights. Bombs do not strengthen their cause; they place it in greater peril.
Military action framed as moral clarity can quickly become a moral contradiction. When schools are struck, when oil routes tremble, when the future of a nation is left undefined, the line between liberation and destabilization blurs.
If the goal is peace, security, and empowerment for the Iranian people—especially its women—then suggestions and slogans from Trump and Netanyahu will not suffice. Strategy, accountability, and diplomacy must follow. Without them, this operation risks becoming another chapter in a long history of unintended consequences.
In the coming weeks, the WPS (Women, Peace, and Security) framework must not be treated as an afterthought but as an anchor toward de-escalation and reconstruction in Iran. If political transition unfolds, women’s rights cannot be ignored in the name of stability. The new government must guarantee political liberties: equal protection under the law, meaningful political representation in the constitution as well as in peace building, and freedom of movement without dress codes.
Iranian women have already demonstrated their courage and commitment to new political rights, from the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement to decades of grassroots organizing. They must be seated at the forefront of peacebuilding efforts, representing a true regime shift for the country. The international community should condition sanctions relief and other diplomatic actions on protections for women’s civil and political rights. Sustainable peace will not come from regime change alone, but from centering women at the foundation of the new political order that emerges.