Iraq was a surprise (to many, anyway) Iran, everyone in USA has been aware of our pending fighting Iran for the past 50 years or more. Iran and USA have rattled sabres regularly, you’d have to be totally disconnected from US foreign affairs to be unaware of this. It has been expected. We’ve been at war with Iran for decades, using drones and missiles and jet fighters and even putting boots on the ground. Iraq was our proxy state who received military equipment and chemical weapons from us. And more than these three countries are involved in this war. Some have even switch sides. Just like USA isn’t USA, and uses other states to fight, so does Iran.