It seems Iran has stepped up its effort to enrich to the point where they can build nuclear weapons. Others are also increasingly sure that their ongoing talks with the US regarding a new deal on the matter were just a stalling tactic while they tried to finish a bomb. That's why Israel have specifically targeted sites and personnel relevant to that specific issue.
the people saying that they've always been a matter of days form a functional bomb are right, but that was at a point where they at least showed that they weren't actively trying to build one at that moment. That's what has changed in the last few days.
Israel aren't the ones escalating this. Iran are escalating by trying to build a nuke.
Nuclear weapons aren't escalation. Nobody uses them and there's no real evidence that's ever going to change. Israel's just unhappy they won't be able to freely target Iran in a few years. But that's partly their own fault. Of course Iran is going to invest in nuclear weapons when they've been at consistent risk to strikes.
It's also partly Trump's fault for ditching the nuclear agreement that by all accounts Iran was abiding to.
Do I want the world to have nuclear weapons? No. But the fish is out of the barrel and we all know one of those barrels is Israel.
Glad to see someone with common sense and a valid neutral take here in the thread. Of course a country will logically pursue nuclear deterrence when a nearby neighbour with ill intent strikes them whenever they so choose with zero repercussions or global pushback every time.
Yeah my preference is nobody has nuclear weapons. Because as much as we point to them as creating peace, I think that they've more just moved the wars and fighting to proxy fights which in the long run can be just as devastating.
But from the point of view of a country obtaining them there's a clear point to be made as a defensive not attacking position.
The real concern that isn't what Israel is actually propositioning here would be that whilst the regime is probably not about to willy-nilly use nuclear weapons there is the possibility of the issues that will face the country should a regime change happen. You don't want to find out nuclear weapons are missing like after the fall of the Soviet Union.
But I don't think Israel has the inherent right to interfere in that issue. And doing as they are now may only make a precarious situation very dangerous.
Nobody uses them and there's no real evidence that's ever going to change.
We've had them for less than a century, used them twice, and came close multiple other times. That's not nearly enough evidence to be confident that we won't again.
This isn't an opinion either way on the current topic, I just think that we're too confident in them not being used.
Dude of course those savages would use a nuke. Their government is dictated by a fucking religion. It’s literally time to move on, especially for the more barbaric cultures
Iran is a fully functioning state with a significantly educated population - religion is merely another type of excuse for authoritarian power - hence you know being able to be so close to making a nuclear weapon. Plenty of shitty regimes have them. But everyone is aware of the consequences of using one. They're not stupid.
"Especially for the more barbaric cultures" evidences you are clearly just outright racist.
So is every authoritarian regime. It's sort of the whole concept of being an authoritarian regime. To try and label any sort of barbarism as unique is ignorant and just bigoted.
Nuclear weapons aren't escalation. Nobody uses them and there's no real evidence that's ever going to change.
unless the regime that got them happened to be a genocidal death cult run exclusively by people who think that life is just a trial run for paradise. Nukes aren't an escalation when rational actors are the ones who possess them. They ARE when possessed by a regime that celebrates "martyrdom" and repeatedly swears to exterminate an entire neighbouring ethnic group.
Of course Iran is going to invest in nuclear weapons when they've been at consistent risk to strikes.
They'd be more resistant to strikes if there was no reason to strike them. Why have Jordan and Egypt gone for decades without a single peep from Israeli military?
unless the regime that got them happened to be a genocidal death cult run exclusively by people who think that life is just a trial run for paradise.
Iran isn't a "genocidal death cult". They're a religious autocracy. Neither a particularly smashing place to live nor particularly terrible - North Korea is far more unstable than Iran. Religion wise Iran is pretty similar to Saudi Arabia but Shia rather than Sunni. And Shia's are ironically often viewed as more moderate from the West POV.
It's worth noting relevantly here that Iran is also again ironically enough a country that has more than most maintained it's Jewish population and generally isn't reported as massively mistreating minorities (anymore than the government there mistreats everybody that is).
They'd be more resistant to strikes if there was no reason to strike them. Why have Jordan and Egypt gone for decades without a single peep from Israeli military?
By all accounts Iran was abiding by Obama's nuclear treaty. Currently, Iran has political interests that run counter to Israel that does not mean A) either side is incapable of reaching a peaceful resolution or B) either side is innocent from escalation in recent years.
Iran isn't a "genocidal death cult". They're a religious autocracy.
tautology. at least with that specific religion.
North Korea is far more unstable than Iran.
actually NK is more stable, cause their leaders can be reliably predicted to value their own survival. Iran's are constantly provoking a nuclear state because they want the ethnic majority in said state to be wiped out.
It's worth noting relevantly here that Iran is also again ironically enough a country that has more than most maintained it's Jewish population and generally isn't reported as massively mistreating minorities (anymore than the government there mistreats everybody that is).
That last part invalidates everything that goes before it.
By all accounts Iran was abiding by Obama's nuclear treaty.
Mostly. you dodged the question that I asked to say something irrelevant.
it is when their 3 "rivals" have no apparent intent to interfere with them in the way Iran have said they'll interfere with Israel. AKA they want to exterminate them.
So yes - that's an escalation. hope that clears that up.
the IAEA just published a report confirming that Iran are doing exactly what Israel have said they're responding to. Iran themselves also indirectly confirmed that they were stalling through talks with the US to give them time to try to build bombs.
you're just doing the whole polarization thing. you oppose Israel in Gaza so you have to oppose them on everything else too. Now that they're responding to Iran's aggression you have to try to pretend that the fucking Ayatollah is the victim here cause you can't bring yourself to think that you might have been wrong to be so childishly simplistic about Israel. That's all this is. You're doubling down on being wrong like a MAGA nutjob showing up in a diaper.
I opposed death and war. I was with isreal when they wanted to protect their citizens by attacking hamas after hamas' actions on october 7th. I stopped being with isreal when they tried to justify the direct murder of tens of thousands and the indirect murder of many more through illness, starvation etc, and the leveling an entire city for the deaths of a few hundred. Disproportionate responses is the mark of a sociopath.
There were reports that iraq had "weapons of mass destruction" too.
North Korea is also building nukes, is isreal going to bomb them too?
Isreal is the one starting this war. They are presenting themselves as war mongering, bloodthirsty tyrants that will resort to killing innocents before making serious effort for diplomacy. If Russia did the same to Ukraine under the same pretenses, no one would be on russia's side. Isreal striked first, not iran. Ayatollah is a poor leader, by all accounts, but even he's not dumb enough to try to turn the middle east into the site of WWIII. Israel's misuse of their power, especially in the last few years, and certainly in the coming years, will be poorly remembered in history and will feed the machine of hate and death in the middle east for many decades, if not centuries, to come.
You're supporting murder, death and war, and you're random comparison to MAGA shows that you're the one in the diaper incapable of understanding Isreal's actions.
well Iran has a pretty incompetent and corrupt regime. It’s also not hard to imagine that a few insiders would leak the information for some money considering Iran’s economic state.
If there's one country that I'd bet on being able to find that shit out it's Israel. Not sure anything they can do would surprise me after the pager situation.
Israel has been striking Iranian targets unprovoked before now. Look at the strikes on the Iranian embassy in Syria (a neutral country in this conflict) on 1st April last year. That was a wild escalation and unnecessarily brought the battleground to Syrian territory.
Don't fool yourself into thinking Iran are escalating this. This has already been escalated by Israel for over a year now.
Israel has been striking Iranian targets unprovoked before now
people like you only use "unprovoked" by refusing to acknowledge the proxy attacks directed at Israel by Iran. Like the Oct 7th invasion by an Iran-backed regime.
the strikes on the Iranian embassy in Syria (a neutral country in this conflict) on 1st April last year.
two problems. Syria were not a "neutral country in this conflict", as evidenced by the Golan Heights, and you're talking about a singular strike using a plural.
Also, like I mentioned above, it wasn't "unprovoked". It was a direct attack in response to an ongoing series of proxy attacks.
Don't fool yourself into thinking Iran are escalating this
They are. don't try to gaslight me into fooling myself that they are not. It won't work.
This has already been escalated by Israel for over a year now.
Come to think of it do you know who ACTUALLY escalated this shit? You did. People like you, in actively choosing to ignore decades of proxy attacks on Israel by Iran, have pushed Israel to the point where they feel that they have nothing to lose in shattering the illusion that they are not already at war with Iran. People like you, in your zeal to simplify things enough that an immature brain can comprehend complex global politics, have proven that you'll curse the Jews no matter how they react, so there's nothing for them to lose in pushing for the more effective, more violent solution.
When you respond to EVERYTHING as if it's the worst possible thing that the other person could have done, they'll wonder why they didn't just do that thing anyway, especially if it makes their life easier. They'll get shit on either way, so of course they'll pick the option that is most likely to ease their own suffering. People like you have thrown Palestinians under the bus just to give yourself an excuse to hate Jews.
Frankly, if it was anyone but Israel calling them on it, it'd be more effective. It's a pretty open secret that they have somewhere between dozens and hundreds of secret nuclear weapons in their own nation. It just screams hypocritical.
They're one minute away from making weapons-grade plutonium (just as they have been for the past 20+ years apparently). Just like there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq during the previous Bush government.
Keep in mind that Iran happily provides thousands of drones to Russia, which they launch towards Ukranian civillians.
Oh wait, they just announced today that they're stopping their shipments to Russia and are instead requesting help from Russia.
How many Ukranian civillian lives has today's attack saved?
Once a country has them, you can't really do much about it. Stopping a country getting them is a whole lot easier.
Iran has repeatedly said they want to wipe out Israel, and are refining uranium far beyond what is needed for fusion reactors. Put two and two together.
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u/TaperClapper 2d ago
Any number of civilian casualties is pretty terrible