Iran starts mass production of weapons.

[Dema]

Iran is vicious

[Wadaad]

Iran's been mass producing and exporting weapons systems for decades now...from the Houthis to the Sudanis to Hamas to even Nicaragua. There is nothing new emerging from Iran, all its cards are known. As for Russian being an ally...only so far as geopolitics allows, afterall, Iran had its own "Sykes-Picot" after WW2, when British and USSR decided between themselves how to appropriate 'spheres of influences'. Russia got the north, Brits got the south (and the oil).

[N1019]

It will not happen
if it will happen it must be with the use of nuclear weapon ...and i think it's not possible
Iran is not afghanistan , it's not iraq , Iran has militar power ...attack iran and start a war with convensional weapons is an economic suicide
Maybe u can win at the end ...but they could kick our ASS so badly that we could not sit down for years and years :_p

BELIVE IT OR NOT but Iran is a bad ass

Sorry mate, but you're obviously still under the spell of Iran. Their rich history, culture and big-eyed women with pornstar hairstyles have won your heart. I love it, too, but we mustn't let our emotions get in the way of what is unfolding before our very eyes.

In the last 15 years, the US has ploughed through every middle eastern country that got in its way. They have no reason to stop now. If you really believe Iran is somehow an exception - that somehow it will be left untouched when everything else has been razed to the ground - you've been reading too much Iranian propaganda. They and their Western leftist sympathisers are the only ones who say that war with Iran is not going to happen/impossible etc., and even they don't really believe it. Look at the facts of American and allied military power compared to Iran. There is no compariosn. The forces of the US plus European and other allies make up the greatest nation-crushing machine in world history. Nothing else comes close. That's before you even start looking at nukes.

The US also has a plan to use nuclear weapons on Iran. It has been on the table since 2005. With rumours that tactical nukes have already been used in Syria and elsewhere, it wouldn't surprise me if the US did nuke Iran, albeit using tactical nukes rather than the doomsday strategic variety. Of course, it won't be reported in Western media, though.

As we speak, there is a bill in US Congress called H.J. Res. 10. Check it out. If passed into law it would authorize the use of US military forces against Iran. You might say that shit is getting more and more real by the day.

But you can continue living in your world of fantasy if it makes you feel better.

[Smitty]

The US and allies would be able to devastate most Iranian military, civilian and nuclear infrastructure via a massive aerial bombing campaign. That alone would in many ways cause Iranian society to cease to function, which would be followed by utter chaos in the cities.

The boots on the ground part would not be fun, since Iran is a large country guarded by mountain ranges, but it is still doable.

Despite the large size of the Iranian military and all the media hype coming from the West and Iran itself about how powerful it supposedly is, Iranian military forces are still no match for those of the West, with technology two whole generations behind and mostly conscripted troops that lack the requisite training and discipline.

Remember, when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, the Iranians watched in horror as the US military machine quickly tore the country apart, knowing full-well that if they were next on the hit-list, they were gonners. That Iran was much bigger than Iraq did not make them feel any safer. In fact, they were so afraid of being taken out next that they attempted to start negotiations with the Bush Administration, but their overtures were ignored.

It remains to be seen exactly what strategy the US has planned for men on the ground and for the long term future of Iran, but if the war does happen, the state of Iran as we know it would probably cease to exist.

Expect the chaos to spread beyond the borders of Iran and expect the trouble to go on for years.

Could the US not take out Iran's nuclear capabilities and call it quits as Amor Vincit Omnia suggests? I'm not saying that will happen, but it seems workable to me.

[Shah-Jehan]

Could the US not take out Iran's nuclear capabilities and call it quits as Amor Vincit Omnia suggests? I'm not saying that will happen, but it seems workable to me.

Except that Iran doesn't have the nuclear capability, just like Iraq never did. While on the other hand, everyone knows that Israel possesses them, despite being part of the NPT agreement.


Edit: Nvm, Israel isn't part of the NPT.

[Smitty]

Except that Iran doesn't have the nuclear capability, just like Iraq never did. While on the other hand, everyone knows that Israel possesses them, despite being part of the NPT agreement.

Not now. But it certainly will in the near future.

[Shah-Jehan]

Not now. But it certainly will in the near future.

Not really, it is certainly not easy to build warheads, and apt delivery systems are even harder to get by. North Korea for e.g., have potential nuclear warheads, but no good delivery system. Also, the US is merely using the nuclear thing as an excuse to get rid of the anti-Israel/US regime of Iran, and basically activate the classic American military-industrial-complex once again. Both Pakistan and India have developed nuclear weapons for e.g.. They were briefly put under sanctions, yes, but relationships resumed. During that time, it was also US of the major powers to veto these countries, while basically everyone else in the West had maintained relations. These countries weren't seen as "anti-American" and thus there was no threat of invasion or whatever.

[N1019]

Could the US not take out Iran's nuclear capabilities and call it quits as Amor Vincit Omnia suggests? I'm not saying that will happen, but it seems workable to me.

Oh, you mean like the "surgical strikes" the US and Israelis have been talking about for years? Yes, it could be done, IF the only reason Iran became an enemy was because of its nuclear programme. Alas, that is not the case.

Iran is a problem child for more reasons than that. It stands as a major obstacle or deterrent to unfettered Anglo-American hegemony in the region, refuses to follow orders from the empire, strives for independence and sovereignty rather than submitting to imperial domination under the global economic system led by the US, it is set to completely abandon the US petrdollar for oil exports, may form stronger strategic alliances with other anti-American states, tries to maintain a degree of military industrial sovereignty rather than being fully-dependent on global powers for imports, etc. Additionally, Iran is the most inherently powerful nation in the region, with a huge amount of natural resources and human capital, requiring alliances of other nations to offset its power (similar to Germany in Europe). Put all that together and you have an unacceptable situation for the Anglo-American empire, which is in a position to do something about it

Iran has lots of oil and gas that "the empire" wants to get its hands on. Unfortunately, "the empire" sees the people who live above that oil and gas as an inconvenience. The Iranian people, like most peoples of the middle east, just get in the way of resource exploitation. They are a nuisance. So, with all that in mind, I have my doubts about a simple set of surgical strikes to take out nuclear research facilities while leaving everything else intact. It just doesn't seem realistic to me, and it's also inconsistent with the game of nation-breaking that America has been playing elsewhere in the region.

Except that Iran doesn't have the nuclear capability, just like Iraq never did. While on the other hand, everyone knows that Israel possesses them, despite being part of the NPT agreement.

The whole Iranian nuke thing is the favoured pretext for war with Iran that the US latched onto years ago and has not given up. We know Iran does not have nukes and probably wasn't anywhere near having them. But like with Saddam and his WMDs, if the world can be persuaded that Iran really is pursuing nuclear weaponisation, making the case for war would be much easier.

It is not hard to imagine that if the US cannot find the smoking gun it needs to present to the UN Security Council, it will eventually fake it or try another of the many options it has considered, like a false flag attack or provocation.

As for Israel's nukes, no-one will hold Israel accountable for them, force inspection of inventories or signing of the NPT, so there's nothing that can be done. The fact is that Israel has been permitted to have nukes by world powers.

[Smitty]

Not really, it is certainly not easy to build warheads, and apt delivery systems are even harder to get by. North Korea for e.g., have potential nuclear warheads, but no good delivery system. Also, the US is merely using the nuclear thing as an excuse to get rid of the anti-Israel/US regime of Iran, and basically activate the classic American military-industrial-complex once again. Both Pakistan and India have developed nuclear weapons for e.g.. They were briefly put under sanctions, yes, but relationships resumed. During that time, it was also US of the major powers to veto these countries, while basically everyone else in the West had maintained relations. These countries weren't seen as "anti-American" and thus there was no threat of invasion or whatever.

Right. It's Iran's anti-America stance that makes it a threat - I think a real one. I'm certainly not hankering to go to war. I'd like nothing better than to ignore the world for awhile and focus on domestic issues. But Iran worries me some. And it seems better to eliminate them as a threat now rather than wait till they bomb us. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that could be done with a minimum of damage on both sides. Again, not that I think our obese and corrupt government would stop there.

[Shah-Jehan]

The whole Iranian nuke thing is the favoured pretext for war with Iran that the US latched onto years ago and has not given up. We know Iran does not have nukes and probably wasn't anywhere near having them. But like with Saddam and his WMDs, if the world can be persuaded that Iran really is pursuing nuclear weaponisation, making the case for war would be much easier.

It is not hard to imagine that if the US cannot find the smoking gun it needs to present to the UN Security Council, it will eventually fake it or try another of the many options it has considered, like a false flag attack or provocation.

As for Israel's nukes, no-one will hold Israel accountable for them, force inspection of inventories or signing of the NPT, so there's nothing that can be done. The fact is that Israel has been permitted to have nukes by world powers whereas Iran has not. Iran cannot do anything to change that now because no-one trusts them.

Yeah, basically. However, I don't think the US will invade Iran to be honest. These are just threats (to appease the American public who are born into thinking that Iran is some kind of crazy terroristic regime), just like how the US has threatened China on the disputed areas of the South China Sea.

Right. It's Iran's anti-America stance that makes it a threat - I think a real one. I'm certainly not hankering to go to war. I'd like nothing better than to ignore the world for awhile and focus on domestic issues. But Iran worries me some. And it seems better to eliminate them as a threat now rather than wait till they bomb us. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that could be done with a minimum of damage on both sides. Again, not that I think our obese and corrupt government would stop there.

Actually, besides the hostage crisis during the Iranian revolution, Iran hasn't been the aggressor against Americans. While on the contrary, the US has devastated the Iranian economy by putting unjust sanctions, and in 1988, even shot down a passenger plane that resulted in the death of 290 (all) of its passengers who were just civilians, and not all of them were even Iranian. To this day, the US has not yet apologized for that incident.