alephnerdIran launched unsuccessful attack on UK's Diego Garcia
The fact that it was unsuccessful does not make it any less worrying. Iran was a regional problem before the war, but this new escalation shows they’re a threat to the entire world. They might have previously had a chance at a Vietnam or perhaps a Korea-style stalemate
Iran is fighting for survival, Israel and the US are fighting by choice.
They attacked Iran not the other way round. US bases, even if also used by UK which aides US it their war, are legitimate targets.
US imperialism is the greatest threat to the world.
The IRGC is fighting for survival, most Iranian want them gone, and Iran will be better as a whole if the IRGC is all dead. Don't try to conflate the government with the country, they don't always align.
Most Iranians do not want the IRGC gone, that's US/Israeli propaganda. Thousands of people have been marching in support of the IRGC. Common sense would also tell you that Iranians aren't going to support the people bombing their schools.
> Iran will be better as a whole if the IRGC is all dead
Which is an impossibility. We're talking about a military force of more than a million religiously fervent men that have martyrdom as a core tenet of their religion. They are not going anywhere, and assasinating their leaders and bombing their bases will not make them easier to enforce anything on.
The opposite: Trump and Netanyahu have just proven to the bulk of the Iranians that the mullahs were right all along. They have helped IRGC more than they've hurt them by taking out their leadership. The mistake here is to think that the IRGC is structured along the lines of NATO or something like that. It really isn't. It's more like a 'instant guerilla mix' where all you have to do is add some water and stir it up. They learned a lot of lessons from looking at Iraq and the fact that their command structure is still in place should tell you something.
This is simply not true. I'm Iranian and I wish it were but IRGC has more support than you think. There is at least 30-40% of the population who support it and within those, more than half will gladly die for the regime.
My home country has more than 90M people and 40% of that equates for millions of supporters.
From the outside, you are only hearing the diaspora talking points, which don't realistically represent Iran. Many of them have grievances with the regime, or have been exiled after the Shah.
Iran is a complex country and it's hard for outsiders to grasp it, mainly because the censorship happening on both sides.
I personally think this war was a major mistake, no Iranian is going to cheer for US or Israel after watching their children being killed by them. The west was doing a good job exporting liberal ideas to Iran slowly over the past 3 decades. Some of those were starting to drip into the country, but this war undid all that effort.
If anything, the attack on Iran has increased their support.
US and Israel don't give two fucks for the people of Iran. If they did they wouldn't have been under such crippling sanctions.
Irani people want to control their own destiny, not as a vassal of US-Israel backed power.
Iran's best bet I think is to negotiate with the IRGC to earn reforms. I suspect that if IRGC doesn't feel so threatened they might even get them.
There's a lot of commentary here along the lines that Iran is now a threat to Europe. Yes the capability might exist but it is not in Iran's interest and have never shown such interest or ambition. India certainly has missiles that can reach parts of Europe, capability does not signal intent.
US and UK have screwed the relation up by organising coup, scuttling democratic processes, downing domestic passenger jet without apology, setting Saddam Hussein and his chemical weapons at them and the economically ravaging them with sanctions.
As for nukes, with Israel and undeclared nuclear power right next door, it's a very reasonable ask for any country that wants to control its own destiny. In fact had it had one, the current conflict would not have happened.
There is at least 30-40% of the population who support it and within those, more than half will gladly die for the regime.
Sobering, and (speaking as an American) all too familiar here at home.
Cults suck.
Unless you're talking about the US military you're wrong here. MAGA is not willing to sacrifice anything. It's a bully mindset and bullies take, they don't give.
MAGA is not willing to sacrifice anything.
They're willing to sacrifice the rest of us, just like the mullahs. As long as other people are hurting more, MAGA is happy to sacrifice whatever is asked of them.
It's a literal cult. To understand that, all you have to do is imagine a Biden, an Obama, or a Harris saying and doing the things Trump has said and done in the last 30 days alone. "Some of you may die, and gas prices may go up for a while, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. Oh, also, Imma need 'bout $200 billion, kthx."
> They're willing to sacrifice the rest of us
It's a transaction: they'll pay more for gas for a month to feel strong and powerful. That's a good exchange. They feel like they're winning. But there's no way they're putting their life on the line for anything.
So no, it's not a sacrifice. If they were to lose their position of strength they'd roll over in a second. Not just the followers but the leaders too. I mean imagine if Hegseth or Trump was captured by Iran. They would shit their pants give them anything they want. Anything to get back to their comfortable bed. Because they have zero principles. You don't need priciples if you're not being tested. That's why bullies bully, because they think there are no consequences.
You are absolutely deluded if you think the removal of the IRGC will result in any improvement in the situation of the Iranian people. The US and Israel want to bomb he place into a lawless wasteland, even if a secular democracy was to arise it would make no difference.
It’s trivial for either the US or Israel to do that with one phone call (completely destroy infrastructure on kharg island and the gas fields, this yields an Iranian failed state). The fact it hasn’t happened proves you wrong.
Or maybe you could ask yourself why people chant this. Maybe people don't fancy your mass murder of their Palestinian brothers and sisters. Maybe Iran didn't appreciate the US supporting Saddam Hussein to fight a war against Iran where he used chemical weapons against the population.
The might be a reason the whole region hates Israel and the US. Just saying.
Or maybe you could ask yourself why most of the rest of the region allows the US to have military bases on their soil, and why they are so concerned about protecting themselves against Iran.
The "whole region" fears Iran more than they hate the US, judged by their behavior.
The people in the region cheer when they see Iranian missiles hit US bases.
It is the Saudis and the other monarchists and oligarchs that have decided to sell out their countries to the US and Israel. They fear their own people more than anything else.
Iran is the only country in the region who has supported the Palestinians. Everyone else has looked the other way. Iran has not invaded any other country. It is Israel that keep the region in a constant state of war.
9/11 happened because US imperialism. The current regime is in power because of US imperialism, as them and the Brits doing the coup in the 50s.
Maybe we should look at why Iranians chant this?
And those "proxies" are not "against" America or Israel - they exist solely as resistance groups that counter Israeli aggression, ethic cleansing, land theft etc. You know, like Israel is doing right now in their stated aim of annexing South Lebanon, after displacing over a million people from their homes. Without Israeli aggression and land theft, these resistance groups wouldn't exist.
> those "proxies" are not "against" America or Israel - they exist solely as resistance groups that counter Israeli aggression, ethic cleansing, land theft etc.
They explicitly call for the destruction of Israel.
A lot of people think the world would be better off without the violent Israeli regime and their influence.
Iranian kids have been chanting death to Israel and death to USA for 47 years now. They’ve been waiting for this.
Well, if US takes down their democracy and downs their domestic passenger jets, fight a proxy war with chemical weapons through Saddam Hussein that alone kills 20~30 thousand, no country is going to respond to that with flowers in their hair.
In Iran's defence, in spite of being attacked repeatedly with chemical weapons, not once have they retaliated with chemical weapons. This is in line with their beliefs which was formalized into a fatwa by the late Khamenei against nuclear weapons.
I would call that taking a pretty principled stand at a time when it would have been very tempting to redefine them.
Funnily enough, they are still a bit salty about the US and UK overthrowing their government in 1953, because that government started asking questions about how much oil the UK was stealing.
You'll be surprised to hear about what they have been chanting in the streets of Tel Aviv for decades. This cycle of violence can't be resolved by more violence. By starting this war for no reason, Israel and the US will only succeed in further radicalizing the Iranian people against them.
> They attacked Iran not the other way round.
This whole war is a continuation of the Oct 7 attack on Israel by Iran's proxies. It's been revealed recently that Israel took the decision to assassinate the leader of Iran soon after Oct 7 in retaliation. It just took a few years to find the opportunity to do so.
How convenient for Trump that now all Europe now has a pretext to send the help they were asked for.
The whole point of that noise is to put NATO + Japanese military in the Straits of Hormuz so that Israel and the US can continue to attack Iran with impunity. Any effort by Iran to shut the Straits in response to further attacks will hit some "innocent" party and drag them into the conflict.
It's basically bait for WW3, and luckily so far the EU particularly are not biting.
When was the last time the NATO navy do anything anyway? They’d just be sitting ducks and probably not even know which directions to point what pointless weapons they have.
Iran was attacked. Israel and the US are the threat, Iran is just practicing very common sense self-defense.
Are you implying other countries have to join in?
Iran is only a threat because the US and Israel decided it was time to murder some Iranians.
The US and Israel are more of a threat to the entire world.