Many Metro Detroiters with close ties to the Middle East woke up to alarming images and news of a joint U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, prompting fresh fears about the possibility of a wider conflict.
Saeed Khan, an associate professor of Near East and Asian Studies at Wayne State University, said the early-morning strike was “shocking but not surprising,” given weeks of mounting tension and talk of potential military action.
“What we’ve been hearing for several weeks is this buildup to some kind of military intervention,” Khan said. “The only thing that’s changed is the rationale and justification for it.”
Metro Detroit is home to large Arab and Jewish communities, many of whom have family and friends living in the region, making the developments feel especially personal and immediate.
“Whether they have family, friendly, heritage ties, they’re going to be worried about that,” he said. “And I imagine people with ties to Israel are wondering what’s going on and there’s probably mixed feelings.”
Khan warned that any military move in the region should concern people everywhere, not just those with direct connections.
“Any time there’s military intervention anywhere in the world, we do need to be concerned,” he said.
In a video posted to Truth Social, President Donald Trump announced what he described as major combat operations targeting Iran.
“I don’t make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill,” Trump said. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties — that often happens in war.”
Khan said the unpredictability of the administration’s foreign policy only heightens uncertainty about what might come next.
“Given what we see coming out of President Trump and foreign policy, which is unprecedented in its chaos, anything is possible,” he said.