Israel Strikes Iran: Explosions in Tehran, Sirens in Israel

[Landon Caeli]

At this point this administration has failed to materialize any form of peacei

No administration, ever, could have prevented Iran from pursuing it's nuclear goals by "talking". Unfortunately.

Iran's actions alone have led to this point.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

Question: wasn’t the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor a “preemptive strike”?

To be fair, had it worked, it would have been hailed as a masterstroke by the victors. Fortunately for Israel, Iran is not the "sleeping giant" that the US was in 1941.

 

[wing2000]

I was praying and hoping that Israel would have given the USA more time to reach a diplomatic solution with Iran in order to hopefully have a peaceful resolution to Iran's nuclear ambitions.

My guess is Israel chose to act last night when their Military and Intelligence assets were in place and ready to execute.

As for adhering to the wishes of the US, I think Netanyahu got the hint when Trump didn't stop in Israel after visting Saudi Arabia. Once more, Netanyahu does not want a peace deal with Iran. He's been itching for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities for years. There is one problem, though. Israel does not have the capability to destroy all of Iran's nuclear facilities.

 

[Landon Caeli]

My guess is Israel chose to act last night when their Military and Intelligence assets were in place and ready to execute.

As for adhering to the wishes of the US, I think Netanyahu got the hint when Trump didn't stop in Israel after visting Saudi Arabia. Once more, Netanyahu does not want a peace deal with Iran. He's been itching for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities for years. There is one problem, though. Israel does not have the capability to destroy all of Iran's nuclear facilities.

I wonder if that means that this fighting will continue, as Iran will one day, inevitably use nukes on Israel the first chance they get. Especially now that this happened.

 

[Valletta]

Here's an update:

What has Israel hit in Iran and who were the generals and nuclear scientists killed?

This is what we know so far after Israeli strikes on multiple Iranian targets

www.yahoo.com

 

[wing2000]

I wonder if that means that this fighting will continue, as Iran will one day, inevitably use nukes on Israel the first chance they get. Especially now that this happened.

Netanyahu stated last night was just the beginning of the military campaign.

 

[Larniavc]

Israel is directly attacking its biggest and bestarmed adversary, without clear backing from the U.S. President Trump publicly opposed an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites on Thursday, saying he still believed a nuclear deal was possible.

Historically, right-wing authoritarian regimes such as the Knesset have historically shown a higher propensity to initiate conflicts compared to centrist democracies so this doesn't really come as much of a surprise to me. Does any non-weapons selling to Israel Administration support the Knesset party's actions in recent years?

 

[Larniavc]

At this point this administration has failed to materialize any form of peace in any of the current war zones

I think the majority of those familiar with the current state of geopolitics have long since lost any confidence in anything beyond outlandish assertions and then U-turns back to the status quo (with a generous injection of financial chaos and needless deaths) from Mr Trump's 'negotiations'.

I would go as far to challenge anyone who could point to a long term improvement in the geopolitical status quo as a direct result of his intervention.

 

[Larniavc]

No administration, ever, could have prevented Iran from pursuing it's nuclear goals by "talking". Unfortunately.

Iran's actions alone have led to this point.

Indeed. So focussed where they on their nuclear ambitions that they forced Mr Trump to tear up JCPOA, those swarthy rascals.

 

[Valletta]

My guess is Israel chose to act last night when their Military and Intelligence assets were in place and ready to execute.

As for adhering to the wishes of the US, I think Netanyahu got the hint when Trump didn't stop in Israel after visting Saudi Arabia. Once more, Netanyahu does not want a peace deal with Iran. He's been itching for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities for years. There is one problem, though. Israel does not have the capability to destroy all of Iran's nuclear facilities.

Iran, by thumbing their nose at the United Nations as to the building of atomic bombs, knew full well Israel would be forced into action. Netanyahu held back as long as he could.

 

[Chesterton]

Question: wasn’t the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor a “preemptive strike”?

Answer: were the United States threatening and planning for decades to unprovokedly destroy Japan?

 

[RocksInMyHead]

Answer: were the United States threatening and planning for decades to unprovokedly destroy Japan?

Japan certainly argued that we were.

 

[Valletta]

Japan certainly argued that we were.

Japan wanted to control the entire Pacific area and figured they could not take it all with the United States in the way. Much like the jihadists want Islam to rule the world.

 

[JosephZ]

There was a large explosion in downtown Tel Aviv on the AP live stream. It appears that a missile was able to escape being shot down by the Iron Dome system, others were being intercepted at the time.

 

[Chesterton]

Japan certainly argued that we were.

Do you have any historical citation for that?

 

[RocksInMyHead]

Japan wanted to control the entire Pacific area and figured they could not take it all with the United States in the way.

Kind of - they wanted in on being a colonial power (just like Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, the US, etc), and saw the Asia-Pacific region as "their" sphere of influence. There were some competing claims from the US, but the larger issue was the total oil and steel embargo that the US had placed on them, which they felt jeopardized their existence as a nation (or at least as the colonial power they saw themselves as). That was the main reason for Japan's entry into WWII - they wanted to secure supply lines and establish their colonial sphere. Attacking Pearl Harbor was meant to cripple the ability of the US Navy to do anything about it - at least for long enough to establish bases and a secure foothold. Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us), they missed the carriers (purely by chance/poor intelligence) and underestimated the resolve of the US as a nation.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

Do you have any historical citation for that?

For decades, not exactly, but Japan certainly saw the US trade embargo and support for China in the 1930s and into 1940/41 as existential threats. Their government didn't see any real option other than war with the US by that point (as they feared backing down would result in them becoming a colony).

I'm not saying they were right - just trying to explain their motivations.

 

[durangodawood]

Iran, by thumbing their nose at the United Nations as to the building of atomic bombs, knew full well Israel would be forced into action. Netanyahu held back as long as he could.

If the UN has any credibility, then Israel has a heck of a lot to answer for too.

I do think they are right re Iran.

 

[JosephZ]

NYT: "At least seven sites in Tel Aviv and its surrounding area were hit in the Iranian missile attack, according to an Israeli military official. The extent of the damage was unknown."

 

[durangodawood]

Kind of - they wanted in on being a colonial power (just like Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, the US, etc), and saw the Asia-Pacific region as "their" sphere of influence. There were some competing claims from the US, but the larger issue was the total oil and steel embargo that the US had placed on them, which they felt jeopardized their existence as a nation (or at least as the colonial power they saw themselves as). That was the main reason for Japan's entry into WWII - they wanted to secure supply lines and establish their colonial sphere. Attacking Pearl Harbor was meant to cripple the ability of the US Navy to do anything about it - at least for long enough to establish bases and a secure foothold. Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us), they missed the carriers (purely by chance/poor intelligence) and underestimated the resolve of the US as a nation.

At the Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki they have a section on the historical background of the event, and they are pretty clear about Japan's extreme militarism in service of colonialism as the main driver of the Pacific war. Pretty sure I recall this correctly.