Seven days of war in the Middle East: how the first week unfolded

Air strikes have shaken the Middle East after the US and Israel launched an attack against Iran, killing the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The conflict quickly spread across the region. The Guardian looks back at the seven days that ignited a war, which has already claimed the lives of more than 1,500 Subscribe to Guardian News on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/user/guardianwires?sub_confirmation=1 Seven days on, seven questions about the US-Israeli war on Iran ► https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/07/seven-questions-about-iran-war Middle East crisis – live updates ► https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/09/iran-war-live-updates-new-supreme-leader-mojtaba-khamenei-oil-prices-soar The Guardian publishes independent journalism, made possible by supporters. Contribute to The Guardian today ► https://support.theguardian.com/ Sign up to the Guardian's free new daily newsletter, First Edition ► http://theguardian.com/first-edition Website ► https://www.theguardian.com Facebook ►https://www.facebook.com/theguardian Instagram ► https://instagram.com/guardian Bluesky ► https://bsky.app/profile/theguardian.com The Guardian on YouTube: The Guardian ► https://www.youtube.com/@theGuardian Guardian Australia ► https://www.youtube.com/@GuardianAustralia Football Weekly podcast ► https://www.youtube.com/@FootballWeeklyPodcast Guardian Football ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardianfootball Guardian Sport ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardiansport It's Complicated ► https://www.youtube.com/@itscomplicated Guardian Live ► https://www.youtube.com/@GuardianLive #iran #iranwar #middleeast #middleeastwar #middleeastcrisis #usa #israel #lebanon #donaldtrump #alikhamenei #benjaminnetanyahu #hezbollah