As the first American and Israeli missiles hit Iran on February 28, 2026, U.S. government officials argued that this was not the start of war. Instead, it was just the next stage in a conflict that started with the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the American and Israeli-backed regime of the Shah, and made the U.S. and Israel sworn enemies of the new Islamic state.

THE MARCH TO WAR is a unique three-part series that looks at the deep roots of the “infinite roller-coaster” of conflict that has ensnared Israel and Iran and drawn in the United States. Was open war inevitable, the series asks? And could the escalation have been stopped?

The series tells the story through the voices of those that shaped it: politicians (including former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu), military commanders, intelligence chiefs and ambassadors, from all sides, along with political scientists and historians.

CHAPTER 2: THE FIRST BATTLE

Was the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel the first battle in the Israeli-Iranian war? While Iran had previously funded the PLO, by the early 1980s it was training and funding Hezbollah, which could serve as its proxy in southern Lebanon. This episode looks at Iran’s strategy, the rise of Hezbollah, and the profound impact of its signature tactic — suicide bombing — as well as at the Israeli embrace of targeted assassinations, and their deadly consequences.