Iran Catch-All | IRAN WAR

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One of the primary rules of politics — and in this case, international relations — is don’t create martyrs. The Trump administration is creating martyrs at an astonishing rate, from Minnesota to Iran. While GWB’s foolish decisions cost far more American lives, I can’t recall an administration with a more callous and reckless disregard for human life.
 
lawtig02 said:
One of the primary rules of politics — and in this case, international relations — is don’t create martyrs. The Trump administration is creating martyrs at an astonishing rate, from Minnesota to Iran. While GWB’s foolish decisions cost far more American lives, I can’t recall an administration with a more callous and reckless disregard for human life.
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Stupid gives you such a great head start on being like that.
 


America is the best in the world at traditional warfare.

And the worst in the world at dealing with insurgency.

We make more enemies than we halt and we loss lives and dollars doing so.

You cannot bomb away fundamentalism.

That’s why diplomacy and constructive programs like USAID need to exist.

So we can avoid forever wars that we end up losing.
 
CFordUNC said:


I hope this is wrong but I fear it will be true.
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I stopped at the ridiculous take that Khamenei was “the moderate”.

Also, his fatwa on nuclear weapons was a joke. They didn’t have them and his regime is the one that was trying to get them. As with other fatwas in Iran, the “advantage” of being supreme religious leader and supreme political leader is you can adjust your religious pronouncements as suits your political agenda, which has happened numerous times since the revolution there.

None of which means his successor can’t be more aggressive or fundamentalist.
 
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nycfan said:
I stopped at the ridiculous take that Khamenei was “the moderate”.
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I think the point is relative. He certainly wasn’t moderate by Western standards but likely moderate relative to the other clerics who will be jockeying for power in his wake.
 
nycfan said:
I stopped at the ridiculous take that Khamenei was “the moderate”.
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Not quite sure about this statement. He was the head of a theocracy and not a cult of personality. There is roughly equivalent power but a lot more of an ideology behind how you use it. He couldn't ignore all previous custom and tradition like Trump. He had restrictions in how he governed.

That said, coming from a religion that sometimes actively encourages martyrdom, being the moderate has a whole lot of room and I have no idea what their extreme is. For me, I'd rather not just call the idea ridiculous but would rather listen a little more first.
 
finesse said:
Not quite sure about this statement. He was the head of a theocracy and not a cult of personality. There is roughly equivalent power but a lot more of an ideology behind how you use it. He couldn't ignore all previous custom and tradition like Trump. He had restrictions in how he governed.

That said, coming from a religion that sometimes actively encourages martyrdom, being the moderate has a whole lot of room and I have no idea what their extreme is. For me, I'd rather not just call the idea ridiculous but would rather listen a little more first.
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Yep. If nothing else, he was a moderate in the sense that he apparently had an appetite for endless bargaining and negotiation. I don’t think we can count on his hardline successors necessarily sharing that same willingness.
 
Meatloaf=Steak said:
Can someone explain in simple terms what our obsession is with Israel?
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Fairy tales about the Promised Land and the omen that the restoration of Eretz Israel represents in terms of the Second Coming. The sooner Israel is restored to its glory, the sooner the Second Coming or some sort of heresy like that.

It always has amazed me all the omens and signifiers so many people can find from cherry picking the Bible so they can prepare for that when, even if you do believe, Jesu said in clear text (if you can actually apply that to a book of such dubious provenance) that nobody knows or will know when he will return and to beware of the false prophets who say they do. He warned he'd come like a thief in the night and that one should always be prepared.
 
Well I was hoping that the death of Khameini might inspire the populace to revolution they would overthrow this religious regime and install a less oppressive government of their choosing. Doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Not a great idea to try but won’t shed any tears over the bombings minus the children.
But I hope the cheetoh isn’t stupid enough to put boots on the ground. That’s the problem his ego is so fragile God knows what he will do if this regime doesn’t fall.
 
nycfan said:




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Weird thing about the Skylight — it was under US Sanction and believed to be part of Iran’s shadow fleet. They seem to have used a tanker of their own to disrupt the traffic through the straight without attacking other regional oil vessels(?)

“… The U.S. Treasury in December 2025 sanctioned Red Sea Ship Management and Skylight, among other vessels, accusing the management company and its owner of operating a "shadow fleet" to transport Iranian petroleum products in the Gulf.

Ship monitoring service Tankertrackers.com described Skylight as a small tanker that was mostly used for fuelling other vessels and had been anchored in Musandam governorate since February 22.…”

www.reuters.com

US-sanctioned oil tanker hit off Oman coast

A Palau-flagged oil tanker under U.S. sanctions was hit on Sunday off Oman's Musandam peninsula, injuring four people, the country's maritime security centre said, without specifying what hit the vessel.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
HandsonFire said:
Well I was hoping that the death of Khameini might inspire the populace to revolution they would overthrow this religious regime and install a less oppressive government of their choosing. Doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Not a great idea to try but won’t shed any tears over the bombings minus the children.
But I hope the cheetoh isn’t stupid enough to put boots on the ground. That’s the problem his ego is so fragile God knows what he will do if this regime doesn’t fall.
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Kinda early to know for sure. There have been signs of anti-regime protest and celebration of his death overnight, as well as (clearly more organized) pro-regime protests in daylight.

The revolutionary guard were largely in control of governance prior to Khamenei’s death and still are now. It’s not as easy as decapitating the government or killing one or three supreme leaders.
 
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