Israel launches attack on Iran | US bombs Iran nuke sites

nycfan said:


I admit I expected more of a crater but this seems like a giant drill hole.

It seems like human intel from the site will be necessary to understand how effective it was.
Click to expand...

That’s the only approach that could possibly work. But it’s still way too early to know (a) if the underground structures were actually damaged, and (b) if what we were trying to destroy was still there.
 
ZZLPHeels said:
Agree on the last part, but Israel did exactly what it needed to do. Iran's nuclear capabilities have been set back substantially with very limited casualties in return. Iran was so weak that, as another poster put it, it would have been almost criminal not to take advantage of this opportunity. They are likely never going to be weaker than they are right now.
Click to expand...

And that line of thinking is exactly what will draw us into a long drawn out conflict. Netanyahu Has been ringing the alarm bells about Iran and nukes for decades. They’ve been 90% there since 1995.
IMG_2452.jpeg
We just can’t seem to learn our lesson WRT that region.

They’re not going to roll over and play dead.
 
ZZLPHeels said:
Fair, but that is a calculated risk that I'm fine with. Losing a handful of people in a terrorist attack would be horrible but it would pale in comparison to the prospect of losing a million people due to a nuclear detonation 10 years from now that we could easily have prevented.
Click to expand...
Losing a handful of people in a terrorist attack is not even remotely the extent of the risk. That may be closer to a best case scenario. But again, we have no way whatsoever to know what will happen from here. Thanks to Trump.
 
ZZLPHeels said:
Have you not been following the news over the past few months? Do you think they are letting Israel completely dominate them by choice? Maybe they are sadists? Of course not. Their military has no offensive capabilities left. Their proxies - namely Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Syria - are all effectively dismantled. We have total air superiority over all of Iran. Their launchers have nearly all been eliminated. The most they can do is rage on Twitter, which is exactly what they have been doing. They are done.

In the GWOT, which lasted over 20 years and involved us actually invading two countries, we lost approximately 7,500 troops. We aren't going to lose "tens of thousands" of troops from an airstrike on a defenseless enemy unless they all simultaneously die of boredom while waiting for Iran to respond.
Click to expand...
Do you realize that China is exceptionally dependent on Iranian oil? Do you believe that the Chinese government is going to sit by and allow us to reduce Iran to chaos? This portends to wreak havoc on the Chinese economy and they may very well consider it an act of war against China itself.
 
dukeman92 said:
And that line of thinking is exactly what will draw us into a long drawn out conflict. Netanyahu Has been ringing the alarm bells about Iran and nukes for decades. They’ve been 90% there since 1995.

We just can’t seem to learn our lesson WRT that region.

They’re not going to roll over and play dead.
Click to expand...
We've also taken meaningful action to slow their progress down since 1995. We (I'm including Israel in the "we") have taken out nuclear scientists and driven the program underground. And remember Stuxnet?

They may not want to roll over and play dead, but they are all out of options. If John wants to burn down his ex's house, but John's arms are cut off, John is going to have a very, very hard time burning down his ex's house.
 
ZZLPHeels said:
None of this will happen. Iran is completely powerless.
Click to expand...
This strikes me as incredibly naive. Iran can't reach us with missiles or stealth bombers, but they can sabotage city water systems and power grids. They can create internet chaos. They can make the price of oil double. Iran is powerless to respond in kind but by no means are they powerless.
 
wmheel1287 said:
Do you realize that China is exceptionally dependent on Iranian oil? Do you believe that the Chinese government is going to sit by and allow us to reduce Iran to chaos? This portends to wreak havoc on the Chinese economy and they may very well consider it an act of war against China itself.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am 100% confident the Chinese government is going to sit by here. Iran isn't even the top 5 of countries that China imports oil from. And we didn't target Iran's oil fields. We very specifically targeted their nuclear facilities. This isn't World War III. This isn't even the GWOT.
 
wmheel1287 said:
Do you realize that China is exceptionally dependent on Iranian oil? Do you believe that the Chinese government is going to sit by and allow us to reduce Iran to chaos? This portends to wreak havoc on the Chinese economy and they may very well consider it an act of war against China itself.
Click to expand...

They either do not understand or don’t care. Geopolitical instability in that region will cause global chaos.
 
ZZLPHeels said:
They've had terrorists all around the world. Including on US soil. Doesn't matter.

Could they attack us? Sure. Could they kill a dozen people, or dozens of people? Sure. But we've had that exact same threat for nearly 30 years now.
Click to expand...
But now they have a reason to carry it out dumbass.
 
dukeman92 said:
Without dropping bombs.
Click to expand...
Yup, and we likely finally reached the point where the bombs were necessary. Almost no casualties were caused by the strikes unless Iran was stupid enough to leave people in those facilities after we telegraphed our impending moves. This is essentially like complaining about a home run at Oracle Park because you are worried that it might hit a fish when it plops into the ocean.
 
ZZLPHeels said:
Yes, I am 100% confident the Chinese government is going to sit by here. Iran isn't even the top 5 of countries that China imports oil from. And we didn't target Iran's oil fields. We very specifically targeted their nuclear facilities. This isn't World War III. This isn't even the GWOT.
Click to expand...
So if China was dropping bombs and forcing regime change in a country that supplies 15% of our crude oil, do you think we would "sit by"? Remind me again what the first gulf war was about....why did we care about Kuwait?

For reference, Kuwait supplied 10-12% of our crude prior to the invasion by Iraq.
 
wmheel1287 said:
So if China was dropping bombs and forcing regime change in a country that supplies 15% of our crude oil, do you think we would "sit by"? Remind me again what the first gulf war was about....why did we care about Kuwait?
Click to expand...
Yes, 100% I do. Did we target Iran's oil exports? Was there a super secret airstrike that only you know about and nobody else does? China isn't going to initiate World War III because we blew up a nuclear bunker. They aren't dumb and they aren't reactionary.
 
Paine said:
The wildest (well, maybe not) part of this entire situation is that Iran is acting more like a rational state than the U.S. We broke the nuclear deal. We escalated. We bombed their territory. And now we’re shocked and scared they might retaliate.

Iran is acting exactly how a cornered, sanctioned, and encircled nation would act: cautiously, but with resolve. The only irrational part here is believing we can keep poking them without expecting consequences.

If you’re sitting in Tehran right now, what’s the rational takeaway? We honored the nuclear deal. We endured sanctions. We absorbed assassinations. And now we’re being bombed anyway. The only logical move left is to build a deterrent. Because clearly, nothing else protects you.

The U.S. has once again escalated in the name of preventing proliferation, but all it’s done is make proliferation the only rational choice.
Click to expand...
Iran is largely responsible for being in this predicament. Without 10/7, which was carried out by their proxy, none of this happens. Israel's actions since 10/7 have taken out Iran's allies and Iran's remaining proxies and have put Iran in a position where they will have a hard time responding meaningfully. They are reaping what they have sewn.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top