"A U.S.-Iran War Would Be All Sorts of Awful" Topic

"War with Iran is no joke. Critics of a deal with Iran should not treat it like one. A breakdown in negotiations will have serious repercussions for the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. That being the case, lawmakers should be more careful when threatening to use U.S. military force.

Iran hawks are playing with fire. We are close to a nuclear deal with Iran, but opponents continue to step up attacks aimed at torpedoing efforts to reach a settlement. They insist that we must walk away from the negotiating table, and that there's a better deal to be had…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Awful for Iran!

No one wants a war. However as long as Iran harbors the dream of being a regional power and gaming control of the holy sites of Islam they will be a danger to US national interests. Israel a major ally of the USA is also a target Iranian threats. Religious fanaticism also means reaching an understanding with the religious leaders will be problematic. When you are dealing with fanatics who want to covert the world by force if necessary your choices for peace are limited. In short I do not trust the Iranian government to make any meaningful deal. The last administration made a poor deal with Iran, one that at best only postponed a military confrontation and did this country a disservice. There is no easy answer and it might be that a conflict is going to happen.

Hmmm…

1. Several Iranian ships catch fire and burn, damaging facilities in a strategic port, including oil storage tanks:

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2. An Iranian oil platform just catches fire…

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(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Iran is another paper tiger.

Lots of troops, but very low tech, and with 1950s – 1970s era kit for the most part.

Not sure they even know how to use that.

Sure, plenty of fanatics willing to die for Allah, but not much else, I suspect.

Most likely/may have some nukes, which could be a problem, since people have been saying for at least the last 25 years that they are just 6 months from creating one or more bombs. So, that means they could have 5 – 50 of them I suspect, depending upon which figures you choose to believe.

Hmmm, those fires are interesting, as is the attack on Qom.

I think this is the most likely type of war we'll see there.
If Iran was behind the attacks on tankers they might get a message… or escalate the conflict further.
If Iran was not the culprit, the attacks on tankers will continue, as well as retaliation strikes on Iranian ships. Not sure where it will get.
On the other side not so far ago Saudi wanted to dig a channel to separate Qatar from Arabian peninsula as they were not happy with the coverage of their affairs by Al-Jazeera and there were even talks of war, however nothing came from it.

What happened in Qom? Something that doesn't get a lot of western press is that there is a low level insurgency against the Iranian regime going on from several faction. I have read of attacks by general anti-regime forces as well as from Sunni factions, and ethnic factions like Baluchis, Kurds, etc.

Yep.

Pollak: Obama Alumni May Be Prodding Iran, Inadvertently, to War

The latest talking point from Democrats is that President Donald Trump is maneuvering the United States into a war with Iran — but ironically, it may be Democrats themselves who are making war more likely by defending the Iranian regime and encouraging it to stand firm against the president.

…But Democrats who are telling Iran it has nothing to fear, or to wait until after 2020, could cause the regime to make a fatal miscalculation that forces President Trump to react to defend America's broader security interests and diplomatic credibility.

Trump has shown, in Syria and elsewhere, that he is willing to act. By assuring Iran that he will not, and declaring that he should not, Democrats are increasing the chance that he will have to do so.

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