It has been over a month since the United States launched Operation Epic Fury, a joint military campaign with Israel aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear capabilities and countering threats posed by the regime, according to a White House statement from March 1.

The conflict, which began Feb. 28, has led to more than 3,500 casualties, including 13 American service members, triggered widespread destruction across the Middle East and fueled a global rise in oil prices.

President Donald Trump said March 31 that American troops could leave the conflict in “two or three weeks,” though the statement came after the U.S. bolstered its presence by deploying thousands of troops as Iran intensified strikes.

As the conflict enters its sixth week, Sidelines asked the MTSU community how they feel.

Mahsa Bakhtiara, an Iranian MTSU student who moved from the region a year before the conflict, said many Iranians oppose the current regime.

“People do not want this Islamic Republic to stay,” Bakhtaria said. “We all just want this Islamic Republic to be gone, and we want our new government.”

Bahtiara said the current regime permits child marriage and prosecutes women for not wearing a hijab in public. 

Bahtiara said she does not support the death of the innocent, but supports the war effort, noting celebrations after the death of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

“The previous leadership, Ali Khamenei, when he died, even people in Nashville were celebrating, downtown Berlin, Germany, Vancouver, Canada, all places around the world,” Bahtiara said, “People were celebrating, so it’s not a bad thing at all.”

Adam House, an MTSU student veteran who served in the 173rd Airborne Brigade during the Iraq War, said the conflict is puzzling.

​“Right now, I’m trying to understand it myself,” House said. “From what I’ve gathered, talking to friends, family, other veterans, experts, trying to understand it better, it seems like everybody else is just as confused as I am; we are all trying to make sense of it, and it’s not making sense.”

Given the increasing deployment of U.S. service members to the Middle East, House, who was stationed in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province from 2007 to 2008, said the possibility of another ground invasion is unnerving.

“I’m not going to speak for all veterans,” House said. “But I think I can safely say that most of us in the veteran community have apprehensions about this from the outset.”

Jack Cho, an MTSU sophomore music major, said he mainly feels the effects of the conflict at the gas pump. 

“When I was going home with my brother, we were like, ‘let’s top off the gas tank,’” Cho said. “It was $40. $40 to just top it off. It has definitely affected me when I’m getting gas.”

Cho said most of his friends have not supported the war and that he is also concerned about the long-term implications of the conflict.

“Even if the United States wanted to withdraw, it’s going to definitely leave some lasting impacts on everything, especially in the Middle East and the whole world,” Cho said. 

Jose Sugita, an MTSU junior, acknowledged the Iranian regime’s repression but disagreed with U.S. intervention.

“I don’t believe in the U.S. or any Western country intervening in other countries’ affairs,” Sugita said. “I think it can get very dangerous, and as we’ve seen before, it has been known not to lead the way we want it to.” 

Sugita, an attendee of MTSU’s panel on understanding the Iran conflict held on March 19, said he believes Iran’s political unrest contributed to the initial Israeli and U.S. strikes. Iranian citizens protested the government starting Dec. 28, 2025, “demanding fundamental change and a political system that respects human rights and dignity,” which resulted in Iranian authorities and security forces using “unlawful force” against protesters, according to Amnesty International.

“I think the Israelis saw how weak Iran was because of its protests,” Sugita said. “And they and Trump really heavily banked on it with the hope that if they did intervene, their people would rise up to overthrow the regime, but there might have been a miscalculation.”

While acknowledging Iran’s terrorist threat, Luke Truxall, an MTSU historian of air power and American military strategy, said the most effective strategy may be to pressure the U.S. to withdraw by increasing domestic backlash.

“In my opinion, I believe that they realize that their best path towards victory is to turn the American people against the war,” Truxall said. “Hence the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, attacks on natural gas and oil facilities and strikes against the United States military in the region.”

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