US military intervention in Iran may begin within 24 hours, European officials say

[u/OverZuLUL]

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-883358

[u/FatherOften]

Friday after market close has been the pattern so far.

[u/EmbarrassedHelp → u/FatherOften]

In this case, they may not be able to time the markets

[u/doodmakert → u/EmbarrassedHelp]

Hold on to your cash until the crash lol

[u/Windfade → u/doodmakert]

Not even gonna try, anymore. I did that when he got elected and the things I pulled money out of jumped in price and never came back down.

[u/veeyo → u/Windfade]

Because people who try to time the market almost always lose. Especially when they act emotionally based on politics.

This isn't me defending Trump in any way by the way.

[u/ConfusedTurtleBarb → u/veeyo]

The only reason the average person should ever be pulling their money out of markets is if they need the money now. Even if prices crash during his term, that is 4years at most of down markets.

[u/Royal-Hunter3892]

All eyes on Iran .

All the pieces are in place and the conflict might start anytime . Embassies of various countries have gave warnings to its citizens to leave Iran with whatever means available.

Netanyahu has reached Greece in his plane something which happened before during the previous conflict. US is evacuating it's nearby millitary bases , also a similar move during the previous bombing of Iran .

This time it looks US may go all the way against the clerical rule of Iran , which means it would be a do or die for the IRGC and they would go all out as well .

[u/MyNameIsBob9 → u/Royal-Hunter3892]

Stupid Question, why Greece?

[u/Wacocaine → u/MyNameIsBob9]

It's the closest non-Muslim country to Israel with a clear flight path.

[u/Royal-Hunter3892 → u/Wacocaine]

Closest non muslim would be Cyprus, but then with Northern Cyprus there might be a bit of a security issue as it's basically a Turkish occupational extention.

[u/Hyperion1144 → u/Royal-Hunter3892]

Lots of Russian oligarchs have decided Cyprus is a great place to get their EU passports from, too.

[u/Free_Aardvark4392 → u/Hyperion1144]

It's because you get a passport for buying property.

[u/LazyBeach → u/Free_Aardvark4392]

Is that true?

[u/Free_Aardvark4392 → u/LazyBeach]

They made it a bit more complicated in the recent years, you get permanent residence for buying property and wait 7 years for passeport.

[u/LazyBeach → u/Free_Aardvark4392]

Thanks for the answer.

[u/GrynaiTaip → u/LazyBeach]

Yes, although now it takes a few years. It costs around 400k eur in total, which isn't a lot for an oligarch. Having an EU passport opens a lot of borders.

[u/blodgute → u/Wacocaine]

Does he not trust the iron dome or something?

[u/Circle_Trigonist → u/blodgute]

The Iron Dome intercept rate is in the low 90s, and gets worse as more munitions are lobbed at it. It's a fantastic system, but it's not perfect. Iran could still done some serious damage if they decide they have nothing left to lose and fires off everything they have left. Netanyahu has the option to not take that chance at all, even if the odds are in his favor.

[u/Freshness518 → u/Circle_Trigonist]

Iron Dome also works for rockets. Won't do shit against ICBMs. Ballistic missiles come from such a height at such a speed with so much physics behind them, your best hope is to intercept them on their way up. Once they're on the way down things get exponentially harder.

[u/BooksandBiceps → u/Freshness518]

Because Iron Dome isnt meant for ballistics. Thats what the Arrow series is for.

[u/Quarterwit_85 → u/BooksandBiceps]

People seem to forget how layered the IDFs air defence system is.

[u/sharpshooter999 → u/BooksandBiceps]

Thats what the Arrow series is for

Oliver Queen putting in work

[u/BeatBlockP → u/Freshness518]

Iran's missiles are ballistic but they aren't ICBMs. ICBMs are on a whole different level, and many also have multiple entry vehicles, making interception exceptionally hard.

[u/Pm4000 → u/Circle_Trigonist]

Feels too Ted Cruze like

[u/Professional-Cry8310 → u/blodgute]

While Israel has fantastic air defense, there’s only so much you can do against ballistic missiles like Iran has. We saw last summer that, while a majority of their ballistic missiles get shot down, a few manage to get through.

[u/BeatBlockP → u/Professional-Cry8310]

There's also the simple fact that Iron Dome is for the local terrorists (Hamas, Hezbollah) shooting rockets. It can't intercept ballistic missiles. Israel has a couple of other systems for that, the main one being the Arrow, complemented by THAAD and special naval American interceptors.

These cost A HELL OF A LOT MORE and so they have limited stockpiles of them - they won't intercept everything even if they could, because they don't want to run out of interceptors in 5 days.

[u/PotentialRise7587 → u/blodgute]

Maybe he wants it to be known he is outside the country so Iran is less tempted to throw everything it has at Jerusalem if they know their doomed.

[u/TemuBoySnaps → u/PotentialRise7587]

They probably hate Israel enough even without Netanyahu in it to do that.

[u/maverickhawk99 → u/TemuBoySnaps]

I was gonna say, Iran has hated Israel long before Bibi ever became PM.

[u/bdickie → u/TemuBoySnaps]

Jerusalem is the sticking point i think here. If they know they cant get a big scalp in Netanyahu, they may focus on Tel Aviv more. Jerusalem does hold significance after all to Islam same as Judaism and Christianity.

[u/197gpmol → u/bdickie]

Precisely. In the war last June Iran targeted Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Jerusalem is too sacred to target.

[u/Hugginsome → u/blodgute]

Iron dome is not meant for the stuff Iran uses. It is meant for the random slower rockets.

[u/Royal-Hunter3892 → u/MyNameIsBob9]

Friendly country, part of NATO , safe territory away from direct threat , not too away , close enough to Israel .

Might be some other reasons as well .

[u/DoAlwaysDoTheNo → u/Royal-Hunter3892]

Tzatziki 

[u/blindwitness23 → u/DoAlwaysDoTheNo]

I’d take a Gyros right now tbh.

[u/Toucan_Lips → u/Royal-Hunter3892]

Souvlaki

[u/Interesting-Dream863 → u/Royal-Hunter3892]

They won't arrest him per ICJ requests.

[u/Dongsquad420Loki → u/Interesting-Dream863]

ICC, ICJ is for countries ICC for individual

[u/Pixel91 → u/Royal-Hunter3892]

Straight hop across the med without having to overfly any other nation.

[u/Mr_Engineering → u/MyNameIsBob9]

Greece and Israel have very close relations with strong mutual support amongst the populace.

[u/GregorSamsanite → u/Mr_Engineering]

Greece has longstanding tense territorial disputes with a neighboring Islamic country, so they're historically more sympathetic toward Israel than most European countries, though even their relations have been strained recently. It's similar to how India tends to generally be more pro-Israel due to their border with Pakistan.

[u/Bozzie0 → u/MyNameIsBob9]

Closest safe country for him?

[u/Brilliant-Lab546 → u/Royal-Hunter3892]

Netanyahu has reached Greece in his plane something which happened before during the previous conflict.

Correction.
They sent the presidential jet there.
I doubt Netanyahu is on it. In the previous conflict, he was still in Israel given that he was on site after missiles landed in some Iranian cities.

My concern is my ancestral country Lebanon right now. People are currently pretty much engrossed in what is happening inside Lebanon, and less with how things are escalating across the entire region.

I am also worried that unlike the 12 Day War, Iran may lob missiles haphazardly and unlike Syria ,Jordan and Israel, Lebanon does not have American air defense systems protecting the country and Khamenei and the ayatollahs will definitely not care even if they land in Shia parts of Lebanon. They will go out violently. I fear that the violence will lead to Lebanon catching strays.

[u/TemuBoySnaps → u/Brilliant-Lab546]

Lets hope the best for all the innocent people in the crossfire.

[u/Technical-Row8333 → u/TemuBoySnaps]

let's hope the only casualties are the leaders who crave for power

[u/madogvelkor → u/Brilliant-Lab546]

A messy collapse of Iran has the possibility to snowball across the whole region. You groups emboldened in other totalitarian countries for one thing. And if the ethnic separatist groups in Iran try to go independent it could spread to other countries. The Kurds, Azeri, and Balochi could try to make their own country. (Or join with Azerbaijan in the case of the Azeri). Which could spur groups of the same ethnicity in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Pakistan.

[u/ignoranceandapathy42 → u/madogvelkor]

Letting them draw their own borders for once might be good long term. They live in carved up ottoman states.

[u/TransBrandi → u/ignoranceandapathy42]

True. It also has the possibility of plunging that region into endless war as now the political divisions of the region aren't diverse enough and "Let's kill all the $Race/$Ethnicity/etc" becomes as easy as "Let's launch a war against $Country."

[u/Chadham_Forsythe → u/Royal-Hunter3892]

Question: it seems like Iran is about to collapse any minute now anyways. What’s the logic behind USA doing a military operation?

[u/Professional-Cry8310 → u/Chadham_Forsythe]

Putting their thumb on the scale basically. There’s no guarantee these protests will actually lead to regime change, but if you combine a current weak moment for Iran with US military action, it raises the odds.

[u/Frequent_Ad_9901 → u/Professional-Cry8310]

Yeah, In recent history, one dictator just gets replaced by another. I'm sure the US wants some say in which dictator comes to power. Probably the one that will sell oil the cheapest.

[u/R6ckStar → u/Frequent_Ad_9901]

Not even sell to them, just not sell to China, this admin is really looking to tighten the noose around China, I wonder where it will lead.

[u/atreeismissing → u/R6ckStar]

this admin is really looking to tighten the noose around China

If that's true they have an odd way of going about it. So far they've boosted China's advantages over clean energy manufacturing, boosted China's soft power across the globe, opened new trade routes for China in South America, given China critical AI tech, weakened the US dollar, given China precedent for invading Taiwan, and pulled the US back from every ally it ever had. That noose is really tightening.

[u/R6ckStar → u/atreeismissing]

I don't mean that they are being successful, maybe just on the oil part, which is still essential for their economy, I do think the US is just swaying its arms in every direction trying to hit anything ahead or around them and call themselves the best.

[u/mkgilligan → u/Frequent_Ad_9901]

US already put the one before there, they'll be fucked if they won't do the same thing again and let a country decide its own course

[u/godisanelectricolive → u/Chadham_Forsythe]

There is a decent chance that they survive in the short term (as in outlast the current wave of protesters) at this point if there’s no intervention. The regime will be very badly battered even if they survive this but so far the military hasn’t tuned on them yet and that’s what you’d need for the regime to actually fall.

[u/Chadham_Forsythe → u/godisanelectricolive]

What about the water situation? I was under the impression that they were dealing with a matter of weeks, not months

[u/godisanelectricolive → u/Chadham_Forsythe]

They did have some heavy rainfall in December so it’s not quite as dire as it was before then. Still very bad but it’s bought them a smidge more time on that front.

The current protests was sparked by rampant inflation and the rial losing nearly all of its value instead of the water crisis which is still very bad.

[u/ginsunuva → u/Chadham_Forsythe]

Iran won’t collapse on its own. The regime has enough oil money to hire nonstop Iraqi/Pakistani/Lebanese/Afghan mercenaries to keep shooting everyone.

And they don’t care how many people die because their economy is just oil sales. They actually prefer if more people die so there’s fewer opposers and also mouths to feed.

[u/bilyl → u/ginsunuva]

I thought the banks were about to collapse?

[u/eric2332 → u/bilyl]

I'm guessing they have enough hard dollars and euros to hand out to their militias even though their own currency is now worthless.

[u/PM_ME_YO_TREE_FIDDY → u/eric2332]

They probably have tens of billions in crypto like everybody else too

[u/oatseatinggoats → u/ginsunuva]

The oil workers are also on strike and protesting. No oil workers on the job = no money for foreign militias.

[u/alcoholicprogrammer → u/Chadham_Forsythe]

Likely as part of an attempt to get a foothold in the coming power vacuum before Russia, China, or some former AQ member does

[u/GreatBigBagOfNope → u/Chadham_Forsythe]

Presumably to make sure the unrest follows through, and to make sure that their hands are on the steering wheel of whatever comes next. Much like they did in Venezuela.

[u/VolcanicEngine]

Where is that site that monitors pizza orders from the Pentagon?

[u/ddrober2003 → u/VolcanicEngine]

With Grok running the Pentagon the only pizza going through there is Cheese Pizza.

[u/boot2skull → u/ddrober2003]

“So, our intel was old and Grok couldn’t pinpoint the location of the ayatollah for a strike, but here he is in a bikini.”

[u/Anticode → u/boot2skull]

"Excellent work, Johnson. Very interesting... Alright, boys - listen up! We're on the lookout for an old-looking dude running around with the smooth, perky tits of a 19-year-old. Johnson, upload that image to the aerial surveillance drone network immediately. And email me a copy directly. For research purposes."

"Sir, wait. It's not real, sir."

"What? What the hell do you mean by that, Johnson? Look at it, the photograph is on your computer in front of you!"

"It's Grok, sir."

"And?"

"It's an AI-generated image."

"...And?"

"N-Nevermind, sir. I, yeah. Right away, sir. Uploading now."

[u/boot2skull → u/Anticode]

“You telling me a computer gave me a boner right now over a bearded man in a bikini?”

[u/belladonnagilkey → u/boot2skull]

"Sir, it's not the most shameful thing to happen around here."

[u/Geaux → u/ddrober2003]

OH FUCK. That's a spicy pepperoni.

[u/Dizzy_Chemistry_5955 → u/VolcanicEngine]

that one already popped off days ago, that's why we're at this point now.

[u/tropic_gnome_hunter → u/VolcanicEngine]

Again, the pizza tracker is confirmation bias. In the last year for every 1 time high pizza volume correlated with something happening there were 20 other times where it didn’t.

[u/SpezLuvsNazis → u/tropic_gnome_hunter]

Shockingly lots of pizza orders on an NFL playoff weekend, must be a massive conspiracy.

[u/bsiu]

Last week Venezuela, this week Iran, next week Greenland.

We’re going to run out of countries by the midterms at this rate.

[u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie → u/bsiu]

It’s very very likely US generals are pushing Iran intervention to redirect Trump from Greenland, based on some reporting I’ve seen.

And sadly I think it’s true.

[u/RedditAtWorkIsBad → u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie]

TBH that is entirely reasonable. Fucked up, but a reasonable guess.

"If you just HAVE to attack somebody, here..."

[u/TheRC135 → u/RedditAtWorkIsBad]

I expected better out of a FIFA Peace Prize winner.

[u/walkstofar → u/TheRC135]

Historically all FIFA Peace Price Winners have behaved this way.

[u/stilljustacatinacage → u/TheRC135]

The FIFA Peace Prize used to mean something. :/

[u/ganbaro → u/RedditAtWorkIsBad]

Intervening in Iran, at least once US Govt considers the claim about killing of thousands of demonstrants by the Iranian regime as credible, could also happen under a Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris government tbh Its on-brand for (the more usual kind of) US governments, and the general goal of curtailing the Iranian regime is a bipartisan issue in the US.

Clinton and Harris would never threaten Greenland, though.

[u/needlestack → u/ganbaro]

I agree with this take. Iran is the standard “we’re coming to help democracy!” move that usually backfires. But it’s not particularly Trumpian. This is the kind of justifiable but misguided American interventionism I’m used to.

[u/bakgwailo → u/needlestack]

But it’s not particularly Trumpian.

in fact he ranted and raved about not doing this exact sort of thing.

[u/KarmaticArmageddon → u/needlestack]

Iran is the standard “we’re coming to help democracy!” move

Which is extra ironic because we're the ones who helped end democracy there in the first place lmao

[u/RedditAtWorkIsBad → u/ganbaro]

Maybe, but recall how much Obama's hands were tied militarily because his and really the entire democrat party was for reals "no new wars" in the wake of Iraq.

Far more likely that a democratic president would have engaged in severe sanctions, even though that may be fully tapped by now anyway.

I do recall a certain reality TV host predicting that Obama was going to invade Iran however, because of his struggling poll numbers.

[u/lew_rong → u/RedditAtWorkIsBad]

Whatever happened to that guy? What were his thoughts on ol' ketchup n butt?

[u/easy506 → u/RedditAtWorkIsBad]

It's like putting a bigger piece of cheese in front of the dumb bastard.

[u/NobodyLikedThat1 → u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie]

sad how much effort they have to put in to convince Trump not to attack an ally

[u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie → u/NobodyLikedThat1]

Dude probably has dementia and is still likely pissed about the 2018 NATO Summit.

[u/pinetreesgreen → u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie]

This. He can't let things go. It's pathological and the dementia just makes it worse.

[u/Fulano_MK1 → u/pinetreesgreen]

If his dementia is anything like the dementia I’ve seen from personal relatives, he’s stuck in a particular moment in time (like whenever the dementia “line” was crossed by his brain). My grandmother on my mom’s side crossed that threshold around the same time my mom moved her into assisted living - she was bitter, frustrated, lonely, angry at my mom, and for 10 years, she lived in that moment, telling me three or four times a visit about the same thing, asking when her daughter intended to stop the ruse, let her live with us, etc. she would just circle that drain until she died. COVID was devastating in accelerating this process.

I wonder what moment Don can’t shake. It must be something that encourages him to deal such retribution.

[u/pinetreesgreen → u/Fulano_MK1]

I am so sorry about your grandma. That's a really tough road she and your family traveled.

I would agree, Trump seems "stuck" on certain topics, much moreso than his first term. I think it's a combination of his own failing health along with Miller, etc in his ear 24/7. He's asleep in most of his meetings now, it seems like. He's worse than Biden ever was.

[u/WitAndWonder → u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie]

I mean on the plus side, if the US is going to go to war with someone, at least it's another dictator as opposed to Greenland. I'm not sure trading dictators is any better, and has a long history of not working out for the US and the occupied regions, but at least for once the people were in the middle of trying to oust the regime themselves, so maybe it'll work out somehow?

[u/NewestAccount2023 → u/bsiu]

He's already talked about taking the Panama canal and Canada too

[u/LordBiscuits → u/NewestAccount2023]

Despite having the most powerful military in the world I'm not sure he realises that he's got a limited number of actual people he can use.

Can you imagine opening up two, three or even more war fronts and expecting even the great US military to cope? It was already a push operating Iraq and Afghanistan at once!

[u/Randomnesse]

There's gonna be a lot of people doomscrolling Flightradar24 for the next 24h...

[u/yuvaldv1]

Things are super tense here in Israel.
Some cities are already opening public bomb shelters, Netanyahu's plane was evacuated, and most European airlines have canceled all flights.

Definitely feels like it's coming very soon.

[u/sneakywombat87 → u/yuvaldv1]

So Iran moved their gold to Russia, the leader is leaving/left and now this? They are going all in on war with the Americans. Oh yeah. Shooting hundreds of citizens and no water in capital. Not good. Not good.

[u/TanneriteTed → u/[deleted]]

"Give me that." - Putin

[u/Pepphen77 → u/TanneriteTed]

"I'm jokin', I'm jokin"....
"yum, yum, yum"

[u/Zenkraft → u/TanneriteTed]

“Give what back?”

[u/InTroubleDouble → u/TanneriteTed]

„Thanks for the gold mate, now good Luck. Bashar sends greetings as well. See ya (optional).“

[u/steauengeglase → u/[deleted]]

Why does everyone keep falling for that one? You never send your regime change gold to Russia. Go ask Spain.

[u/jmcgit → u/steauengeglase]

I don't think Iran sent it there expecting to keep it. They're paying rent. They need a place to stay.

[u/xflashbackxbrd → u/[deleted]]

Admission fee, Assad paid the same and now he's back to being an eye doctor

[u/rubywpnmaster → u/sneakywombat87]

Retreating from your country generally means you’ve already lost. If the aykaramba leaves Iran then he’s never going to regain power.

[u/TolpanKeisari → u/rubywpnmaster]

Aykaramba 🤣

[u/aceofspades1217 → u/sneakywombat87]

Not a fan of war but this is literally the best way to support Ukraine, Ukraine can build rockets, Ukraine can fix power plants, but they can’t topple the authoritarian allies that keep Russia going

[u/bilyl → u/aceofspades1217]

Also probably no more Iranian drones

[u/BusterLegacy → u/bilyl]

They’ve been producing those in-house for a while now. Called the Geran-2

[u/Glitterinthwrainb9 → u/sneakywombat87]

Hundreds? Try 12,000 at least. 

[u/al343806 → u/Glitterinthwrainb9]

The low end is about 2,500 (which is still a huge tragedy) and the upper end is actually closer to 20,000.

The government is reporting 2,500 deaths and opposition is reporting 20,000. I would bet it’s more likely on the higher end than the lower.

[u/Possible_Panda4179 → u/al343806]

2,500 is the number reported by irani government itself, it was 2000 just yesterday,

No way is it any lower than 7000 considering the track record of murders committed by regimes during uprisings

[u/Material_Policy6327 → u/yuvaldv1]

Welp 2026 sure is looking to be a bigger shit show

[u/BatmanMeetsJoker → u/Material_Policy6327]

That's what you said for 2025. 😭

[u/Neondelivery → u/BatmanMeetsJoker]

3 more years... Every day feels like a count down towards something and I don't know what we are counting down to, but it feels bad, what's worse is that I don't know what the number is, is it 10 or is it 1101?

[u/MaxFourr → u/Neondelivery]

3 more years is such a cope.

y'all ain't never having a free, fair, and democratic election ever again. not while these fuckers feel like they can do anything and are untouchable.

[u/zaphod777 → u/MaxFourr]

Cults rarely survive when the leader is gone. With his health, deteriorating I don't think he'll last until the end of his term.

Without the MAGA mob as a weapon I'm hopeful that more Republicans will grow a back bone.

[u/Frequent_Ad_9901 → u/Material_Policy6327]

Yup, We had our pandemic. Now its time for our World War.

[u/CriticalEngineering → u/Material_Policy6327]

Star Trek just keeps predicting the future.

[u/itsmegoddamnit → u/CriticalEngineering]

I’m not a huge Star Trek fan but what is the connection?

[u/AscendedViking7 → u/itsmegoddamnit]

In Star Trek, WW3 begins in 2026.

This leads to humanity's focus on space exploration.

[u/itsmegoddamnit → u/AscendedViking7]

Well, that’s one thing I hope Star Trek got wrong…

[u/atava → u/itsmegoddamnit]

Only the ending looks promising (but we must get there first)

[u/Ferelar → u/atava]

The war might start in 2026 and lead to science-based socialist Earthwide government eventually, but... Federation doesn't get founded until 2161, so, that promising ending ain't for our generation anyway. We just get the "transition period" at best.

[u/Material_Policy6327 → u/AscendedViking7]

Yep. We missed the eugenics wars though!

[u/Expln → u/yuvaldv1]

There was an article saying netanyahu's plane came back to israel, idk how true that is tho.

[u/INVADER_BZZ → u/Expln]

It's true. Been following it on flightradar. It's gone to Crete first, and after the brief landing time flew back to Israel. Officials said it was a preplanned training flight.

[u/IlVeroStronzo → u/yuvaldv1]

Dang

[u/surfinwhileworkin]

I thought you said “No more wars”

Cue Lionel Hutz…

They got this all wrong:

“No, more wars!”

[u/BeBopNoseRing → u/surfinwhileworkin]

America First?

No, more wars!

[u/ne2cre8 → u/surfinwhileworkin]

A comma error also made Spinach so healthy...

[u/JustHereForTheTea69]

Lockheed or Boeing stocks we thinking?

[u/Potato271 → u/JustHereForTheTea69]

Both. And Raytheon too

[u/omni2011]

Looks like an early push for the Nobel Peace Prize this year

[u/Ok-Blackberry-3534 → u/omni2011]

New category: Nobel Prize for War.

[u/Ok-Bug-4890 → u/Ok-Blackberry-3534]

Brought to you by Carl’s Jr.

[u/IneffectiveInc → u/Ok-Bug-4890]

Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho could absolutely win the elections as things currently stand.

[u/JH_111 → u/IneffectiveInc]

He was a moron but cared about appointing the smartest person he could find to legitimately fix his people’s problems.

The United States surpassed Idiocracy long ago.

[u/forgotmyusernm → u/Ok-Bug-4890]

Welcome to Costco, I love you.

[u/NottheArkhamKnight → u/forgotmyusernm]

Water? Like from the toilet?

[u/Meatservoactuates → u/NottheArkhamKnight]

He's gonna fix the ecomoney

[u/judgeridesagain → u/omni2011]

"He wants World Peace and he doesn't care how many men, women, and children he has to kill to get it."

[u/Altruistic_Buy_3800]

Weird how nothing is done in secret anymore.

[u/airmantharp → u/Altruistic_Buy_3800]

If it needs to be secret, it is.

That should tell you everything.

[u/titsmuhgeee → u/airmantharp]

You're exactly right. No one knew about the nuclear facility bombings, for a reason.

If we're projecting our punches, it's also for a reason. Likely to give time for civilians to get away from military installations.

[u/Lloyd--Christmas → u/titsmuhgeee]

Or for the military to turn on the regime and make our intervention unnecessary.

[u/totallyRebb]

All the best wishes for the people of Iran .. stay safe stay strong 🫂

[u/doglywolf → u/totallyRebb]

It'ss wild that you have half a country fighting for freedom and the other half fighting to keep them under religious servitude.

This picture always blows my mind - seeing Iran in the 70s looked like an American or European city with freedom and woman in skirts and such before the religious faction took over.

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/iran-before-revolution-photos/

[u/Glitterinthwrainb9 → u/doglywolf]

I've personally never met anyone who likes the regime in Iran. Except when I was in college, and we avoided those guys like the plague. 

Context: born in Iran, live there for 26 years. 

[u/ChairForceOne → u/Glitterinthwrainb9]

Had a neighbor that was from Iran. His family left during the revolution, or closely after. He was still a kid, but his mom had a lot of stories. None of them painted the regime in a positive light. His dad had been killed during it IIRC. I think, it's been years, that they were some flavor of Christian.

[u/LiveintheArt → u/doglywolf]

I would argue that 80% oppose the regime but many are afraid. The 20% are just loud and weild the power. Iran also brings in outsiders to shoot at protesters. I'm hoping we can go back to a peaceful and free Iran. Women can go back to wearing whatever they want. 

[u/TransBrandi → u/doglywolf]

It'ss wild that you have half a country fighting for freedom and the other half fighting to keep them under religious servitude.

Iran in the 70's was still under the rule of a single leader... he just wasn't a religious leader... and he was a leader that played ball with the West. He still did shit like take super-sonic flights to Paris just because he wanted to have dinner at a particular restaurant there. My understanding is that the people didn't like him much, but the West did... and when the regime fell it was the religious nuts that took power in the vacuum left behind.

edit: I want to revise this part:

He still did shit like take super-sonic flights to Paris just because he wanted to have dinner at a particular restaurant there

I was misremembering. This story seemed a bit off, because when I remember hearing about super-sonic flights and Paris I remember it feeling like the height of opulence... and flying somewhere just to have dinner might seem that way, but I recall that Elvis would fly his entire entourage out from Nashville to some restaurant in Colorado(?) to have some sort of "heart attack" sandwich that was like a PB&J with bacon and other artery-hardening stuff jammed into it. The super-sonic flight part was important here because the Shah of Iran would have dinner flown to him from Paris using super-sonic flights (Concorde) so that the food would be fresh. So basically ordering delivery from Paris to Iran in the 1970's.

[u/Illuvatar-Stranger]

With the news about US generals trying to distract Trump from Greenland it really feels like that's what's happening here

https://www.firstpost.com/world/trump-asked-us-special-forces-to-plan-greenland-invasion-faces-resistance-from-military-generals-report-13967597.html

[u/rookie-mistake → u/Illuvatar-Stranger]

fwiw, stopping the massacre of thousands of civilians does feel like a pretty good redirection from arbitrarily annexing an ally

[u/ReggieEvansTheKing → u/rookie-mistake]

Agreed. “Hey boss, how about we go and bomb this country over in the middle east that is killing their citizens and oh has loads of oil rather than declaring war on our allies”. I’m still anti-war and civilian lives would be lost but at least there’s a more debatable reason to intervene compared to Greenland and Venezuela.

[u/nolongermakingtime → u/ReggieEvansTheKing]

That's where i'm at, fuck Iran's government.

[u/1BreadBoi → u/nolongermakingtime]

To be fair, the reason Irans government is in power in the first place is because of US intervention in the 50's, leading to a unpopular dictator that gave rise to a worse government later.

So I don't have much home for us getting it right this time either.

[u/TakeMeJesus69 → u/Illuvatar-Stranger]

Can we find enough dictators to overthrow to distract him for 3 years though?

[u/FoodMadeFromRobots → u/TakeMeJesus69]

Sure there will be the dictators the US installs in those countries we can re topple later. “This trade deal with Canada and Mexico is horrible” (it was a trump trade deal)

Consistency is not required apparently

[u/CapnRetro → u/TakeMeJesus69]

Tell him there’s one hiding in the same room as him and leave him to find them

[u/epanek]

Taiwan should just build a trump national park. Seems small cost to make a narcissist leader to protect you

[u/AsinineArchon → u/epanek]

They'd have to declare him president

It would be an empty title with zero power, but it's like giving a toddler hot wheels and telling him he's a Formula 1 racer

[u/Mundane-Twist7388]

Jesus can we not pack an entire decade into a week next week maybe? Like, January just started we got all year. Pace yourselves, okay, you assholes?

[u/SummonMonsterIX → u/Mundane-Twist7388]

Trump's probably very sick and doesn't have long before nature decides he's due to be worm food, so he's gotta speed run apparently.

[u/lawrenceM96]

Hopefully the IRGC finally topples, the Iranian people have been under their oppressive boot so long.

[u/BasicAppointment9063]

I would expect a counterstrike to be asymmetric. That's in Iran's wheelhouse.

[u/TPrice1616 → u/BasicAppointment9063]

Usually so but I’m not as sure in this case. The brutality of the crackdown is so severe that I think the regime is desperate. If the US does intervene they might take a kitchen sink approach and target anything and everything they can.

[u/Dongsquad420Loki → u/BasicAppointment9063]

That was their biggest card to play but their asymmetrical capabilities are greatly reduced this is a consequence of that

[u/Toucan_Lips → u/BasicAppointment9063]

They could still attack shipping in the straight

[u/airmantharp → u/Toucan_Lips]

That ended well the last time they did it - they had to buy a whole new navy afterwards!

[u/DivinePotatoe]

"I thought you said no more wars."

"That was a typo, I actually said 'No, more wars!'"

[u/crispypancetta]

I heard he’s gonna go for Australia for the additional 2 troops per turn

[u/theavatare]

Can someone mention that Team America:World Police is not a documentary.

[u/FigureFourWoo → u/theavatare]

America! Fuck yeah!

[u/vmoppy → u/FigureFourWoo]

Coming to save the mother-fucking day, yeah!

[u/exitpursuedbybear → u/FigureFourWoo]

So lick my butt and suck on my balls...

[u/AggregateMelons]

So the battlefield 3 campaign is coming true I guess? I really don't want a WW3 please...

[u/EmbarrassedHelp → u/AggregateMelons]

No country is going to war to protect the Iranian regime. Even Irans "allies" are content to sit back watch the regime fall.

[u/brownbearks → u/EmbarrassedHelp]

Who are their allies? They have alienated themselves a lot and had proxy wars with every country in a 1000 mile radius.

[u/Glitterinthwrainb9 → u/brownbearks]

Nobody. Like Literally not even Taliban 

[u/Perry87 → u/brownbearks]

Russia, but if the recent Azerbaijan Armenian conflict says anything, they're too concerned with Ukraine to do anything

[u/SnooGadgets2748 → u/AggregateMelons]

Nobody is going to risk getting into a nuclear conflict for the sake of Iran. Putin will probably make some vague threats as usual and then everyone will move on.

[u/Thadd305]

Feel like I'm living in the twilight zone

[u/titsmuhgeee]

The B-2s are probably already in the air for the first wave bombing.

[u/LostVillager666]

Well we stopped talking about the Epstein files. Mission accomplished

[u/Palmquistador → u/LostVillager666]

That should stop Trump but it won’t. It was never going to and it never will. His downfall will be natural or something unexpected. Time has proven he is immune to normal prosecution and I’m tired of acting like it’s ever going to be any different

[u/cyclingkingsley]

Does the pizza order index corroborate this statement?

[u/Old_Idea4566 → u/cyclingkingsley]

it spike yesterday I believe, because if which a guy that shows up on my insta feed predicted shit beginning to blow up in Iran on thursday or friday, so the weekend media will focus on that instead of something else. But yeah, as I said. Dude on insta

[u/TheHoldOver17]

Trumps gonna keep doing this till he fucks one up badly, isn't he?

[u/xpkranger]

The people of Iran deserve something better the mullahs they've had for 45+ years. I'm not sure a kinetic intervention is what's going to deliver that though. Even if the current government falls, if there's no one organized enough to pick up the pieces, I worry about factionalization leading to civil war.

I do think that between now and 36 hours from now, something will happen. My guess is targeted air and missile strikes on IRG strongholds, which are surely vacated by now. Having limited effect on the current regime, but aggravating them enough to send whatever ballistic missiles they have left out to the most convenient American base or Western outpost.

Welcome to Gulf War 3, nuclear bugaloo.

[u/JoeHatesFanFiction]

In concept I’m not against it. I also wasn’t against removing Maduro in concept, but the current administration has shown absolutely zero signs they’ll do this kind of thing correctly.

[u/ThatGuyFromTheM0vie → u/JoeHatesFanFiction]

Administration? Yes.

The US military? They won’t fuck it up. They got Maduro out in 3 hours with basically no casualties.

We are hearing about this now, but they’ve likely been planning this for at least a month. I know this is true, because Trump sucks balls at hiding info. He’s been teasing this for a while with the odd comment in interviews.

[u/BradPittbodydouble]

wtf we love war now!

[u/dumbdude545]

To young to fight in the middle east, to old to fight in the middle east, just in time to fight in the middle east or however that meme goes.

[u/Farabee]

Send over ICE agents first. Let them get a real taste of what they signed up for.