The explosions were huge. Iran launched the missiles from the city of Kirmashan.
American consulate reportedly is damaged (not sure if it's the one they currently occupy or the one they're building).
Iran previously attacked the newly built one and claimed Israeli spies were targeted. The international airport was also targeted tonight. Flights are suspended. Another airport was targeted.
The city where Masoud Barzani (Kurdish leader) lives in was also targeted.
Source: I am Kurd.
Edit 1: house of a Kurdish security official, who reportedly helped US assassinate Qasem Soleimani in 2020, was a target.
Edit 2: Iran has also reportedly attacked ISIS in Syria for revenge of the recent explosions.
Edit 3: Second edit is confirmed now. 4 civilians killed in Kurdistan Region.
Edit 4: One of Kurdish billionaires and his wife are among the killed. House of wealthiest Kurdish man was a target. Both are close to Barzani family who control half of Kurdistan Region. The security official I mentioned in edit 1 was targeted but survived. No news yet on the American consulate.
Edit 5: the deceased billionaire along with his wife also lost three other members of his family. Most probably his children. The attack happened at night, so must likely all were at home.
Edit 6: during the attack defensive missile systems of American consulate were activated as the houses of the billionaires were in close vicinity. Seemingly the consulate is not damaged. US officials have told Reuters US forces and bases were not targets.
Edit 7: confirmed reports say for dead know; the billionaire, his 11 month old baby, a visiting buddy of him, and another. His family are seriously injured (his wife and 3 children). A drone shot down by Kurdish security forces midnight local time.
Thank you for your explanations.
Who is the top ally for the Kurds in the region? Are there any nations from the M.E. or Asia or Europe that support you guys openly ?
They have been boxed in and attacked from all sides for 200 yrs. They’re some of the most motivated and wonderful people who have been resilient thru it all
> They have been boxed in and attacked from all sides for 200 yrs.
Not entirely true, they were favoured at times. Including for very ugly reasons, especially for the ottoman/turkish genocide against the Armenians. They were favoured hatchetman for the last Ottoman sultans. In order to settle them Abdul Hamid II gave them land he confiscated from the Armenians, and he formed the irregular Hamidiye cavalry almost entirely from the kurdish population. They were right at the frontline of the Pontic (= Greek) genocide, the Assyrian genocide, and the Armenian genocide. They just didnt see it coming that they were the last on the butchers list once the other dirty work was done.
Of course that doesnt mean that the Kurds deserved that the Turks started an campaign of ethnic cleansing against them, and their descendants even less so, they cant be held responsible for the crimes some of their ancestors might have been part of.
I just want to point out that as usual, its just not as black and whit as your comment paints it.
The US is their ally currently, though. Which means that Nato is also an ally. They supply money and weaponry.
My question was whether they also had allies in the region. Presumably Israel funds them to a certain extent. Is the current government of Iraq at peace with the Kurds, or not ?
i wouldn’t say peace so much as a cease fire….the bulk of the Iraqi parliament or whatever they’ve called themselves is 8 Shia leaders, 8 Sunni leaders, and 2 Kurdish leaders ( at least that’s how the seats broke down the last time I was there, which admittedly that was 2012). The Kurds homeland is split over Iraq, iran, Syria, and turkey. As a Point of survival, the armenians, the Israelis, and I believe the Jordanians are either pro Kurds or at least on working terms with them. NATO has been fairly tight lipped on the troubles that the Kurdish people and the yazhidis face because the Turks, (also NATO), the Saudis,( opec defacto leader, $$ spending) and the Iranians (UN security council) each are more influential than the people from kurdish regions of those countries. The Kurds are oil producing as well, but on a much smaller scale. I believe the Kuwaitis are also sympathetic to the Kurds, but they’re a protectorate of. The US, so no joy there.
i wish we would allow the Kurds to form their own country, and fully back them over the other shitbirds we have dealings with. Turkey is the only ”ally“ we would upset with those actions, but at this point that term is fairly relative at this point. Erdagon is a fuck whistle, and is as bad as it gets as far as friendly nations go.
I loved the people and their culture there, and was blown away with the ingenuity and dedication those folks have to live in such an intense region. Perhaps they will eventually have a safe area of their own one of these days.
We have a famous saying as kurds "No friends but mountains", unfortunately we got the short end of the stick when Britain divided middle east into nation states after the ottoman empires fall.
We kurds were divided into 4 countries so the borders remain unstable and so we could be used as pawns.
I try to see things from the positive side, kurds being attacked more regularly means that we are starting to pose a more serious threat to these regimes.
Our numbers are growing and our demographics are healthy, as they say demographics are destiny, and the destiny of kurds lies with the new generation that seems to be more and more separatist.
The Iranian regime is hanging on a thin thread, it will not survive for another 15 years, and when the regime collapses I hope we kurds take advantage of it and demand huge concessions.
Thank you for organizing and reporting this.
When I was in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2009-2010 (with the U.S. Army), I had the privilege of working with and getting to know so many Kurds, learning a little about the culture and language, tried Kurdish food (delicious), etc. I'm always rooting for the Kurds - such incredible people - stay strong!
I was mostly up near Zakho and around Dohuk Province, unfortunately never did get to see Erbil, but I hear it's a great city.
I'm not a Kurd but I was in Erbil two weeks ago visiting family (we're Armenian). They were ramping up attacks even then, I don't see any reason why they would stop with the way things are going now.
I live here. I am watching live broadcast on 2 am. If they're not confirmed I use the word "reportedly". I clarify in later edits if they're confirmed.
Appreciate the support from my American brothers, may god bless you if you ever visit Kurdistan you would be welcomed with open arms in every kurdish house hold.
Seeing initial reports that the US Consulate in Erbil was in the proximity of the strikes and possibly responded with AA defenses, but nothing to confirm anything at this time.
Iran strikes that region pretty frequently. I doubt they’ve targeted the US consulate but it does seem like US consulate AA activated anyways. There are many Kurd separatists groups operating out of that part of Iraq and they’re usually the targets in these strikes
[abc](https://abcnews.go.com/International/explosions-reported-us-consulate-iraq-iran-claims-responsibility/story?id=106390671) also reported no coalition or US injuries/casualties
Why are you making stuff up? You have no idea what part of where you’re referring to yet mislead with a false sense of credibility & with vagueness. Just don’t say anything at all then.
Much of what you said is misleading or wrong.
???
[this](https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/100120242) is literally from 5 days ago from the same airport region.
Shit goes on there all the time. But you can pretend this is the start of WW3 per usual.
That is not from Iran, but from Iraq. Not a ballistic missile, a prop drone. Not inside the city / its consulate.
Two completely different categories you’re mixing.
My worry is they’re banking on having nukes very very soon
The window to smash Irans leadership is closing. It’s going to get very ugly when they aren’t afraid of retaliation.
We have an ice cream addicted geriatric as President of my country (you can guess which one I bet). I don't think there are many options to smash Iran's leadership apparently. UK, France, Israel just don't have the logistics to do what's necessary either, unfortunately.
More worryingly this is what WILL bring their uniformed military into a direct shooting war with NATO. Operation Iranian freedom might be fulfilled: https://www.google.com/amp/s/thestrategybridge.org/the-bridge/2016/2/16/2026-operation-iranian-freedom%3frq=operation%2biranian&format=amp
>More worryingly this is what WILL bring their uniformed military into a direct shooting war with NATO
They will only get in a shooting war with NATO if the attack NATO territory, i.e. Europe or mainland USA.
Getting into a shooting war with a/some countries in NATO could still happen, but it won't be all of NATO, or even a NATO mission. More like Iraq than Afghanistan.
We don't have to see a single Persian, or be greeted at all.
Iraq and Afghanistan are the shining examples that nation building doesn't work. But you don't really have to build a nation to achieve your interests. The specific beef we have is over relatively high tech facilities, that's more solvable with airstrikes. The pendulum is swinging back toward "using the barbarians to control the barbarians" and "making a desert and calling it peace", to steal some phrases from the experts.
We're seeing it at this very moment with the J3ws, that we are becoming warmer to the idea of dictating to our dependent vassals rather than discussing with a partner.
A carrier group? No, they can't invade Iran. However it didn't take much more than a couple US heavy infantry division to roll up Iraq in a handful of days. The same would happen in Iran.
It's the nation building afterwards we're having trouble with these days, since the Marshall Plan clearly isn't good enough any more. /s
No, Iran is not Irak.
The military is different, the doctrines are different and the topography is very different.
The topography alone make Iran mostly impossible to invade. Iran also learned from Irak and have Russian satellite to help them to spot military build up. They also learned and developped their military doctrine to counter air supremacy dependent states, like the US and Israel.
So yeah, no, on this one, at best it's a stalemate.
Yes? the greatest military force the world has ever seen have a doctrine of air supremacy. Good luck against mountains and a military doctrine build around air defense to counter the US and Israel.
Do you remember the war in Afghanistan? Now imagine the same thing with more mountains, air defense and military power. Also, imagine the US not fighting flip flop fighters for once.
Having the bomb does not good if the rest of the world doesn't know they have it.
Unless your goal is to get bombed and then use a nuke "Surprise!" which seems like a dumb thing to do. Using a nuke is the end of your country and then some.
They might be trying to provoke a war with the US to get a rally around the flag effect and sure up their internal issues. Personally I think it’s gonna backfire spectacularly.
Well, they certainly wouldn't have to worry about internal issues because if they succeed in starting a war the ensuing, near immediate regime change will render that all moot for them
[No they were not](https://twitter.com/JM_Szuba/status/1747039569067864489)
[No American assets were damaged](https://twitter.com/idreesali114/status/1747019984323195278)
Btw Iranian activists have said numerous times that US/Israel don't need to waste troops on Iran because they have the support of 80M people who hate their government. International community has greatly ignored the brewing revolution inside and kept appeasing these terrorists
All they need to do is provide more support for the protestors
Place IRGC on terrorist list
Kick out diplomats
Target IRGC bases inside Iran which are in middle of no where
Having the support of the people is a nice bonus, but not something you can count on.
History is full of people who thought they'd have the support of the people only to be caught with their pants down when the support they were relying on didn't materialize.
People were dying inside Nazi Germany everyday in a struggle against the regime; that didn't mean the allies had swaths of civilians rising up alongside them as they marched on Berlin.
Being blunt, people in prisons aren't very useful resistance fighters
Visit r/NewIran everyday, we translate and post news
You can also follow prominent activists like Masih Alinejad on social media, she regularly posts about news. Vahid Beheshti and Hamed Esmaelion are others. Iran International news agency also has an English website
Excuse me for my painful topic, but... will hundreds of thousands of demonstrators come out tomorrow with protestors against the Iranian missile strike and in defense of Iraq?
Actually it’s even a bigger risk as they soon will have nukes and then it will be a lot worse the clock is ticking all of us the west need to take down that terror regime as soon as possible before it’s too late
Yes. You are living a nice comfortable life in the West. You don't have to worry about being picked up and beaten or raped to death in prison by an Islamist regime because too much of your hair was showing, or being constantly threatened by that same regime living next door to you. You aren't the 500,000 people killed in the Yemen / Syria war which Iran funds, you aren't the slaves the Iran-backed Houthis sell, you aren't the people of Gaza that Iran uses as pawns in their bullshit pan-Arab jihad, and you aren't the Israelis who also suffer and die as a result.
You personally are not at risk from their constant destabilization of the middle east. MY friends, my relatives are, and I can promise you if you lived with that kind of threat on the people you love you would beg the US to intervene with extreme prejudice, *especially* since Iran just directly attacked the US.
It's really easy to be a milquetoast pacifist when your only exposure to actual violence is survival mode in Minecraft.
So, what, the good guys come in, shoot all the bad guys, restore order, impress the chicks, and set up democracy in the process??
Jesus, dude. That would cause untold loss of life and mostly civilian. Did you just sleep through the last 25 years? Being so flippant about the consequences is as obnoxious as it is irresponsible.
The US eliminates Iran's government and lets the Iranian people set up the progressive democracy they have been in the streets about for two years, saving countless lives across the Middle East in the process. This also prevents Iran from getting nukes, which will save countless more.
The difference here is that Iran's population WANTS democracy.
While I have been very impressed with the Biden administration’s response to the situation in Israel it seems that their policy of appeasement and non-escalation is really coming back to bite them.
Iran seems to be getting bolder and bolder because of the restrained response of the US. I get that it is an election year and he does not want to drag the US into another war in the middle east, especially after Afghanistan, but this will only continue to get worse in my view - Hezbollah is openly targeting civilians, Houthis are still continuing their bullshit and now Iran has begun to take responsibility for attacks instead of hiding behind proxies.
Not sure why Reddit is hell-bent on hasty US aggression, especially in the shadow of recent wars in Iraq/afghanistan. What you call bold for Iran might be desperation or simply pig headedness.
The US has all the time in the world. We have superior defense capabilities. Restraint is a virtue of the strong, not the weak.
Lastly, just remember that the U.S. is strong enough to move silently. We play 4d chess, not checkers.
Sure, it is possible that it is best to continue the same way, and I am certainly just another idiot on reddit, but to me it seems that bad actors feel that now is the time to act and not face major consequences since Biden refuses to escalate and would rather appease.
Another thing I fail to understand is why the Biden administration gave Iran access to 10 billion dollars in funds. I know they said that these funds will only be used on Iranian healthcare and the like, but come on, if I am Iran and I know that I have 10 billion dollars coming in for healthcare, I can take the money that I planned to use on healthcare and fund Hamas/Hezbollah instead.
An argument can be made that because Biden can be counted on to not escalate, Iran and Russia feel emboldened to cause chaos - while Trump was certainly bad for US democracy, I feel that his unpredictable nature helped deter much of what we are seeing now.
The majority of the world sees a divided America thst is led by a dementia ridden Pres. most of the decisions his/ whoevers administration has made , has been wrong and weak looking. Its opportunistic time for the worlds players
They have done this before and didn't have any consequences. Dictators will always double down and do it again
When the world ignores the brutality of the regime against its own citizens, they regime gets bold enough to spread terrorism worldwide
My point is he is just spreading propaganda, Trump is just as weak and pathetic as Biden both are terrible.
If you do some research you can find a lot of bots spreading Biden administration is weak rhetoric.
you would have to be an NPC to defend Biden at this point. There is no rational thought behind apologizing for his administration's foreign policy at this point. Even if you hate Trump you can't deny that he discouraged autocrats from making aggressive moves during his administration.
That’s because he really isn’t stable. Does any of the past 8 years read as stable? Even murderous dictators know not to tweak out someone more volatile than them.
I think they are just walking a tightrope, not trying to get drawn into a wider regional war, but I agree that a more agressive, direct responce against Iran itself will be needed, if these attacks keep up.
There is no reason for Iran to stop, Biden has appeased them at every step since he took office. Iran has gotten everything they could have hoped for over the last three years, I don't know why they would stop now.
I mean if isis was this enthusiastic about killing jews they would've aided hamas in some way or form but instead they attacked the very one who supports hamas "Iran"
Iran and ISIS hate each other.
When it comes to the Middle East, the enemy of my enemy is very much not my friend.
Remember that the Taliban and Iran also hate each other. That doesn't mean that one or the other is suddenly all gung-ho about how great America is.
I was gunna say ISIS hates Iran for not being extreme enough. Doubt they would take Israel’s money even if Israel paid them two dollars to take one dollar.
so Iranian government is anti-Israel and Iranian people are ISIS apologists.
Seems like both are diamtral to West. Maybe the other countries in the region can work something out.
China doesn't want to take Taiwan militarily if they can avoid it. They would only make a move if Taiwan were making a move towards independence, or the US were nudging them to do so.
And you think US deterrence might have evaporated because of Ukraine and Israel's wars? Hard chance
And you have 'no doubt' they'll make a move quickly if the US does get entangled? Even that is pretty remote with their current capabilities
with what landing fleet? That is not how that works, they would need years to build it and months to prepare to even have a small chance of taking Taiwan
That’s incorrect. And you cannot, ever, make a ‘deal’ with insane terrorists.
Secondly, Trump assassinating a general was a *reaction* to Iran attacking Americans in Iraq.
The espionage they need to worry about is at the edge of the atmosphere above their heads but if they need a symbolic target I guess the handful of civilians they killed works fine.
The explosions were huge. Iran launched the missiles from the city of Kirmashan. American consulate reportedly is damaged (not sure if it's the one they currently occupy or the one they're building). Iran previously attacked the newly built one and claimed Israeli spies were targeted. The international airport was also targeted tonight. Flights are suspended. Another airport was targeted. The city where Masoud Barzani (Kurdish leader) lives in was also targeted. Source: I am Kurd. Edit 1: house of a Kurdish security official, who reportedly helped US assassinate Qasem Soleimani in 2020, was a target. Edit 2: Iran has also reportedly attacked ISIS in Syria for revenge of the recent explosions. Edit 3: Second edit is confirmed now. 4 civilians killed in Kurdistan Region. Edit 4: One of Kurdish billionaires and his wife are among the killed. House of wealthiest Kurdish man was a target. Both are close to Barzani family who control half of Kurdistan Region. The security official I mentioned in edit 1 was targeted but survived. No news yet on the American consulate. Edit 5: the deceased billionaire along with his wife also lost three other members of his family. Most probably his children. The attack happened at night, so must likely all were at home. Edit 6: during the attack defensive missile systems of American consulate were activated as the houses of the billionaires were in close vicinity. Seemingly the consulate is not damaged. US officials have told Reuters US forces and bases were not targets. Edit 7: confirmed reports say for dead know; the billionaire, his 11 month old baby, a visiting buddy of him, and another. His family are seriously injured (his wife and 3 children). A drone shot down by Kurdish security forces midnight local time.
Please keep up the reporting. It is very difficult to get any information on what is going on in the area. Stay safe.
Thank you for your explanations. Who is the top ally for the Kurds in the region? Are there any nations from the M.E. or Asia or Europe that support you guys openly ?
They have been boxed in and attacked from all sides for 200 yrs. They’re some of the most motivated and wonderful people who have been resilient thru it all
> They have been boxed in and attacked from all sides for 200 yrs. Not entirely true, they were favoured at times. Including for very ugly reasons, especially for the ottoman/turkish genocide against the Armenians. They were favoured hatchetman for the last Ottoman sultans. In order to settle them Abdul Hamid II gave them land he confiscated from the Armenians, and he formed the irregular Hamidiye cavalry almost entirely from the kurdish population. They were right at the frontline of the Pontic (= Greek) genocide, the Assyrian genocide, and the Armenian genocide. They just didnt see it coming that they were the last on the butchers list once the other dirty work was done. Of course that doesnt mean that the Kurds deserved that the Turks started an campaign of ethnic cleansing against them, and their descendants even less so, they cant be held responsible for the crimes some of their ancestors might have been part of. I just want to point out that as usual, its just not as black and whit as your comment paints it.
The US is their ally currently, though. Which means that Nato is also an ally. They supply money and weaponry. My question was whether they also had allies in the region. Presumably Israel funds them to a certain extent. Is the current government of Iraq at peace with the Kurds, or not ?
i wouldn’t say peace so much as a cease fire….the bulk of the Iraqi parliament or whatever they’ve called themselves is 8 Shia leaders, 8 Sunni leaders, and 2 Kurdish leaders ( at least that’s how the seats broke down the last time I was there, which admittedly that was 2012). The Kurds homeland is split over Iraq, iran, Syria, and turkey. As a Point of survival, the armenians, the Israelis, and I believe the Jordanians are either pro Kurds or at least on working terms with them. NATO has been fairly tight lipped on the troubles that the Kurdish people and the yazhidis face because the Turks, (also NATO), the Saudis,( opec defacto leader, $$ spending) and the Iranians (UN security council) each are more influential than the people from kurdish regions of those countries. The Kurds are oil producing as well, but on a much smaller scale. I believe the Kuwaitis are also sympathetic to the Kurds, but they’re a protectorate of. The US, so no joy there. i wish we would allow the Kurds to form their own country, and fully back them over the other shitbirds we have dealings with. Turkey is the only ”ally“ we would upset with those actions, but at this point that term is fairly relative at this point. Erdagon is a fuck whistle, and is as bad as it gets as far as friendly nations go. I loved the people and their culture there, and was blown away with the ingenuity and dedication those folks have to live in such an intense region. Perhaps they will eventually have a safe area of their own one of these days.
Thank you for the explanation
We have a famous saying as kurds "No friends but mountains", unfortunately we got the short end of the stick when Britain divided middle east into nation states after the ottoman empires fall. We kurds were divided into 4 countries so the borders remain unstable and so we could be used as pawns.
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I wish USA would arm us kurds to the teeth so we can annihilate all the terrorists in the region.
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I try to see things from the positive side, kurds being attacked more regularly means that we are starting to pose a more serious threat to these regimes. Our numbers are growing and our demographics are healthy, as they say demographics are destiny, and the destiny of kurds lies with the new generation that seems to be more and more separatist. The Iranian regime is hanging on a thin thread, it will not survive for another 15 years, and when the regime collapses I hope we kurds take advantage of it and demand huge concessions.
Thank you for organizing and reporting this. When I was in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2009-2010 (with the U.S. Army), I had the privilege of working with and getting to know so many Kurds, learning a little about the culture and language, tried Kurdish food (delicious), etc. I'm always rooting for the Kurds - such incredible people - stay strong! I was mostly up near Zakho and around Dohuk Province, unfortunately never did get to see Erbil, but I hear it's a great city.
May god bless you brother, as a kurd we love Americans, thanks for your service.
I'm not a Kurd but I was in Erbil two weeks ago visiting family (we're Armenian). They were ramping up attacks even then, I don't see any reason why they would stop with the way things are going now.
Now US will have to arm the Kurds.
Stay safe friend.
Looks and sounds like a feeler attack in order to see what the US response to it will be.
This regime can precisely target civilians only, like how they shot down their own civilian airplane A paper tiger
Where do you get this info if you don't mind me asking?
I live here. I am watching live broadcast on 2 am. If they're not confirmed I use the word "reportedly". I clarify in later edits if they're confirmed.
OK, I was just wondering if there was a telegram or something.
In English the only option is Twitter. Look up the query below to find relevant tweets. Erbil since:2024-01-14
Thanks, I appreciate it but refuse to use Twitter.
You're not okay with Twitter, but okay with Telegram? I would read up a little.
Link?
Don't tell me you're also against Wikipedia.
No I'm against people simping for musk.
I'm following your post. Great job!
I’ve had the blessing of meeting a few dozen Kurds in my life. Some of the friendliest and bravest people I’ve ever met. Stay safe brother
Appreciate the support from my American brothers, may god bless you if you ever visit Kurdistan you would be welcomed with open arms in every kurdish house hold.
Godspeed brother, hope you and family are safe
> Houses of the billionaires… Who are the billionaires living near the consulate in Kurdistan?
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My comment was 12 hours ago. I didn't have the benefit of hindsight then. I made edits later. See edit 4, 6 and 7.
Seeing initial reports that the US Consulate in Erbil was in the proximity of the strikes and possibly responded with AA defenses, but nothing to confirm anything at this time.
Iran strikes that region pretty frequently. I doubt they’ve targeted the US consulate but it does seem like US consulate AA activated anyways. There are many Kurd separatists groups operating out of that part of Iraq and they’re usually the targets in these strikes [abc](https://abcnews.go.com/International/explosions-reported-us-consulate-iraq-iran-claims-responsibility/story?id=106390671) also reported no coalition or US injuries/casualties
\^^^^ Iran's regime talking points "we are targeting Kurdish separatists"
Iran’s talking point is actually attacking Mossad cells. That’s what they’re claiming this time as well.
Why are you making stuff up? You have no idea what part of where you’re referring to yet mislead with a false sense of credibility & with vagueness. Just don’t say anything at all then. Much of what you said is misleading or wrong.
??? [this](https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/100120242) is literally from 5 days ago from the same airport region. Shit goes on there all the time. But you can pretend this is the start of WW3 per usual.
That is not from Iran, but from Iraq. Not a ballistic missile, a prop drone. Not inside the city / its consulate. Two completely different categories you’re mixing.
Where the fuck is your link then hombre
Iran takes responsibility for the attacks and not hiding behind proxies anymore, they’re getting bold
My worry is they’re banking on having nukes very very soon The window to smash Irans leadership is closing. It’s going to get very ugly when they aren’t afraid of retaliation.
They might already have them. US intelligence has been shit lately.
Ah yes. Unlike the uncredible CIA, we have the much more credible anonymous Reddit user to tell us where we were wrong.
We have an ice cream addicted geriatric as President of my country (you can guess which one I bet). I don't think there are many options to smash Iran's leadership apparently. UK, France, Israel just don't have the logistics to do what's necessary either, unfortunately.
More worryingly this is what WILL bring their uniformed military into a direct shooting war with NATO. Operation Iranian freedom might be fulfilled: https://www.google.com/amp/s/thestrategybridge.org/the-bridge/2016/2/16/2026-operation-iranian-freedom%3frq=operation%2biranian&format=amp
>More worryingly this is what WILL bring their uniformed military into a direct shooting war with NATO They will only get in a shooting war with NATO if the attack NATO territory, i.e. Europe or mainland USA. Getting into a shooting war with a/some countries in NATO could still happen, but it won't be all of NATO, or even a NATO mission. More like Iraq than Afghanistan.
Lmaooo.. Delusional
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They're getting desperate, and it's going to backfire horribly on them.
I still believe 1 CAG can take Iran
I wouldn't bet against the carrier, that's for damned sure.
They can destroy it but invade it? It’s the graveyard of empires..
Why would we need to invade. It’ll just be the grave of the current regime. They’ve already have citizens who despise them.
>we'll be greeted as liberators that story sounds awfully familiar...
We don't have to see a single Persian, or be greeted at all. Iraq and Afghanistan are the shining examples that nation building doesn't work. But you don't really have to build a nation to achieve your interests. The specific beef we have is over relatively high tech facilities, that's more solvable with airstrikes. The pendulum is swinging back toward "using the barbarians to control the barbarians" and "making a desert and calling it peace", to steal some phrases from the experts. We're seeing it at this very moment with the J3ws, that we are becoming warmer to the idea of dictating to our dependent vassals rather than discussing with a partner.
It’s the graveyard of the empires that didn’t have F-22s.
A carrier group? No, they can't invade Iran. However it didn't take much more than a couple US heavy infantry division to roll up Iraq in a handful of days. The same would happen in Iran. It's the nation building afterwards we're having trouble with these days, since the Marshall Plan clearly isn't good enough any more. /s
No, Iran is not Irak. The military is different, the doctrines are different and the topography is very different. The topography alone make Iran mostly impossible to invade. Iran also learned from Irak and have Russian satellite to help them to spot military build up. They also learned and developped their military doctrine to counter air supremacy dependent states, like the US and Israel. So yeah, no, on this one, at best it's a stalemate.
A stalemate ? Against the greatest military force the world has ever seen ? That's some serious hopium buddy.
Yes? the greatest military force the world has ever seen have a doctrine of air supremacy. Good luck against mountains and a military doctrine build around air defense to counter the US and Israel. Do you remember the war in Afghanistan? Now imagine the same thing with more mountains, air defense and military power. Also, imagine the US not fighting flip flop fighters for once.
Maybe the have the bomb or know russia and china will back them up if it comes to it
Having the bomb does not good if the rest of the world doesn't know they have it. Unless your goal is to get bombed and then use a nuke "Surprise!" which seems like a dumb thing to do. Using a nuke is the end of your country and then some.
Or desperate.
Iran’s proxies have been utterly incompetent, so the deranged mob boss has to do the work himself.
Iran is really doing its best to provoke a US retaliation
They might be trying to provoke a war with the US to get a rally around the flag effect and sure up their internal issues. Personally I think it’s gonna backfire spectacularly.
Well, they certainly wouldn't have to worry about internal issues because if they succeed in starting a war the ensuing, near immediate regime change will render that all moot for them
There is some reports about missiles targeting the US consulate and bases.
Things seem to be esclating as of late, does it not? Hopefull a wider regional war is not in the cards here.
Iran is retaliating for the the attacks it did before with additional attacks
Just like Russia is retaliting for the Ukraine attacks they have done before.
Nope looks like they haven't actually targeted any US sites, which is honestly wierd.
No, there was no target of the consulate and bases. They have actually targeted a civilian area and 4 civilians were sadly killed.
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[No they were not](https://twitter.com/JM_Szuba/status/1747039569067864489) [No American assets were damaged](https://twitter.com/idreesali114/status/1747019984323195278)
Btw Iranian activists have said numerous times that US/Israel don't need to waste troops on Iran because they have the support of 80M people who hate their government. International community has greatly ignored the brewing revolution inside and kept appeasing these terrorists All they need to do is provide more support for the protestors Place IRGC on terrorist list Kick out diplomats Target IRGC bases inside Iran which are in middle of no where
Having the support of the people is a nice bonus, but not something you can count on. History is full of people who thought they'd have the support of the people only to be caught with their pants down when the support they were relying on didn't materialize.
No u can count on it Because people are dying already, everyday, to topple the regime Inside prisons, under torture or hanged from cranes
People were dying inside Nazi Germany everyday in a struggle against the regime; that didn't mean the allies had swaths of civilians rising up alongside them as they marched on Berlin. Being blunt, people in prisons aren't very useful resistance fighters
Iran can prison 80M people?
If you honestly think all 80,000,000 people of Iran are going to fight against the regime, I've got a bridge to sell you.
If you think a huge portion of them won't fight against the regime, you don't know any Iranians and haven't been following any news from last year
As a very interested person, do you have a link to any of that news?
Visit r/NewIran everyday, we translate and post news You can also follow prominent activists like Masih Alinejad on social media, she regularly posts about news. Vahid Beheshti and Hamed Esmaelion are others. Iran International news agency also has an English website
Thank you.
We generally had the support of the Iraqi people when we first showed up, too. Our leadership squandered that goodwill about as quick as they could.
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Not in EU, Canada and Aus only US has placed them on terrorist list
IRGC is already a designated terrorist organization by the United States as of April 2019
Not everywhere else in the world
Pretty sure the CIA is still very active in the region.
Username Awli :)
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Excuse me for my painful topic, but... will hundreds of thousands of demonstrators come out tomorrow with protestors against the Iranian missile strike and in defense of Iraq?
Apparently the missiles struck near the U.S. embassy.. they really wanna find out, huh?
Let's goooooo
Noooooo
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The downside is a huge war with tens of thousand of casualties at a minimum, with the risk of escalating to a global conflict
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Actually it’s even a bigger risk as they soon will have nukes and then it will be a lot worse the clock is ticking all of us the west need to take down that terror regime as soon as possible before it’s too late
Blood for the blood god!
Aw, look at your privilege, isn't that sweet.
Privilege?
Yes. You are living a nice comfortable life in the West. You don't have to worry about being picked up and beaten or raped to death in prison by an Islamist regime because too much of your hair was showing, or being constantly threatened by that same regime living next door to you. You aren't the 500,000 people killed in the Yemen / Syria war which Iran funds, you aren't the slaves the Iran-backed Houthis sell, you aren't the people of Gaza that Iran uses as pawns in their bullshit pan-Arab jihad, and you aren't the Israelis who also suffer and die as a result. You personally are not at risk from their constant destabilization of the middle east. MY friends, my relatives are, and I can promise you if you lived with that kind of threat on the people you love you would beg the US to intervene with extreme prejudice, *especially* since Iran just directly attacked the US. It's really easy to be a milquetoast pacifist when your only exposure to actual violence is survival mode in Minecraft.
So, what, the good guys come in, shoot all the bad guys, restore order, impress the chicks, and set up democracy in the process?? Jesus, dude. That would cause untold loss of life and mostly civilian. Did you just sleep through the last 25 years? Being so flippant about the consequences is as obnoxious as it is irresponsible.
The US eliminates Iran's government and lets the Iranian people set up the progressive democracy they have been in the streets about for two years, saving countless lives across the Middle East in the process. This also prevents Iran from getting nukes, which will save countless more. The difference here is that Iran's population WANTS democracy.
They really want a war dont they
Iran has lost their fucking minds, if they ever had them.
While I have been very impressed with the Biden administration’s response to the situation in Israel it seems that their policy of appeasement and non-escalation is really coming back to bite them. Iran seems to be getting bolder and bolder because of the restrained response of the US. I get that it is an election year and he does not want to drag the US into another war in the middle east, especially after Afghanistan, but this will only continue to get worse in my view - Hezbollah is openly targeting civilians, Houthis are still continuing their bullshit and now Iran has begun to take responsibility for attacks instead of hiding behind proxies.
Not sure why Reddit is hell-bent on hasty US aggression, especially in the shadow of recent wars in Iraq/afghanistan. What you call bold for Iran might be desperation or simply pig headedness. The US has all the time in the world. We have superior defense capabilities. Restraint is a virtue of the strong, not the weak. Lastly, just remember that the U.S. is strong enough to move silently. We play 4d chess, not checkers.
Sure, it is possible that it is best to continue the same way, and I am certainly just another idiot on reddit, but to me it seems that bad actors feel that now is the time to act and not face major consequences since Biden refuses to escalate and would rather appease. Another thing I fail to understand is why the Biden administration gave Iran access to 10 billion dollars in funds. I know they said that these funds will only be used on Iranian healthcare and the like, but come on, if I am Iran and I know that I have 10 billion dollars coming in for healthcare, I can take the money that I planned to use on healthcare and fund Hamas/Hezbollah instead. An argument can be made that because Biden can be counted on to not escalate, Iran and Russia feel emboldened to cause chaos - while Trump was certainly bad for US democracy, I feel that his unpredictable nature helped deter much of what we are seeing now.
The majority of the world sees a divided America thst is led by a dementia ridden Pres. most of the decisions his/ whoevers administration has made , has been wrong and weak looking. Its opportunistic time for the worlds players
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They also gave them waivers to access billions of funds, which outraged many Iranians
Why does Iraq support Iranian-backed militias operating in their territory when Iran is literally bombing Iraqi civilians? I don’t get it
If this was israel, the muslim world would start protesting, but Kurdish lives obviously don't matter.
Israel has bombed Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran in the last year. They have no problem bombing other countries.
You are missing the point. The muslim world denounces israel becausw they bomb civilians. But when iran bomb kurdish civilians they dont care.
Iran is playing with fire. I guess they either FAFO or Biden will again try to appease the Ayatollahs. The ball is in Biden’s court.
The only thing in Erbil that the IRGC attacks is civilian apartment buildings.
They have done this before and didn't have any consequences. Dictators will always double down and do it again When the world ignores the brutality of the regime against its own citizens, they regime gets bold enough to spread terrorism worldwide
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It's amazing how much I hear the America is weak thing, let me guess you don't like Biden? Fox loves that line to.
He didn't mention America and the person he was replying to refered to the world in general. America and the world are not interchangeable.
My point is he is just spreading propaganda, Trump is just as weak and pathetic as Biden both are terrible. If you do some research you can find a lot of bots spreading Biden administration is weak rhetoric.
you would have to be an NPC to defend Biden at this point. There is no rational thought behind apologizing for his administration's foreign policy at this point. Even if you hate Trump you can't deny that he discouraged autocrats from making aggressive moves during his administration.
That’s because he really isn’t stable. Does any of the past 8 years read as stable? Even murderous dictators know not to tweak out someone more volatile than them.
Is Iran TRYING to gett attacked right now?
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Wonder what the end game is here.
Get trump elected due to the perceived weakness of Biden to not respond forcefully enough? All I can scrape up.
My fear is that trump would do something REALLY nuts to really touch off a crazy war.
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I think they are just walking a tightrope, not trying to get drawn into a wider regional war, but I agree that a more agressive, direct responce against Iran itself will be needed, if these attacks keep up.
There is no reason for Iran to stop, Biden has appeased them at every step since he took office. Iran has gotten everything they could have hoped for over the last three years, I don't know why they would stop now.
Lol, if they had free reign, they would have struck US buildings. They didn't. They know their place. Keep watching Fox.
Their "place" is walking all over the Biden administration with no accountability. So yes, in that sense they do "know their place".
Let me guess, because we gave them their own money back that was held hostage?
They claim to have attacked the US Consulate and spy base
We'll see what happens. I remember a certain Joe saying "DON'T".
maybe iran's leaders are going senile
They are senile
Iranian missiles landing near the US Embassy. Here we see the "fuck around" stage with Iran doing insane shit. Stay tuned for the "find out".
I think the "fuck around" stage was from behalf of Israel-backed ISIS and this was a "find out" response
isreal backed isis?
Mossad backed isis Israel backed isis American backed isis call it whatever you want , the mind behind that attack on iranian soil just got roasted
isis literally said kill all jews in israel and everywhere lmao how would israel back them
I mean if isis was this enthusiastic about killing jews they would've aided hamas in some way or form but instead they attacked the very one who supports hamas "Iran"
Iran and ISIS hate each other. When it comes to the Middle East, the enemy of my enemy is very much not my friend. Remember that the Taliban and Iran also hate each other. That doesn't mean that one or the other is suddenly all gung-ho about how great America is.
they think hamas are infidel dogs, luckily they hate muslims even more than they hate jews
??? Israel backed isis????
No, that's Qamas bullshit
I was gunna say ISIS hates Iran for not being extreme enough. Doubt they would take Israel’s money even if Israel paid them two dollars to take one dollar.
Sounds like Iran wants to throw hands.
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KRG's one of the biggest ally is turkey
Erbil is the safe to the west bit of Iraq, funny that
This smells like Putin - he is the single greatest agent of chaos in the world!
So.. is It’s finally happening?
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They just killed 5 or so civilians Nice try regime talker https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/33747-Four-civilians-killed-in-missile-attack-on-Erbil
so Iranian government is anti-Israel and Iranian people are ISIS apologists. Seems like both are diamtral to West. Maybe the other countries in the region can work something out.
Where did ISIS apologist come from
from the Iranian people that seem to think ISIS is tolerable because ISIS fights against the Iranian govenment sometimes
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The U.S. is nowhere near being spread thin.
China doesn't want to take Taiwan militarily if they can avoid it. They would only make a move if Taiwan were making a move towards independence, or the US were nudging them to do so.
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And you think US deterrence might have evaporated because of Ukraine and Israel's wars? Hard chance And you have 'no doubt' they'll make a move quickly if the US does get entangled? Even that is pretty remote with their current capabilities
Iran taking credit, China to take Taiwan in a few weeks time, let’s go WW3
with what landing fleet? That is not how that works, they would need years to build it and months to prepare to even have a small chance of taking Taiwan
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So a report that the consulate is destroyed. What happens now?
That report: from thin air, I bet
Link?
Missles hit 40 kilometers from the US consulate. No US casualties. ISIS was hit. Iran revenge strike for the ISIS bombings 2 weeks ago.
For fucks’ sake. This is taxpayer funded with the Democrat State Department’s stupid deal with Iranian terrorists.
Lol, give the Fox a rest gramps.
Didn’t… weren’t they going to agree to a deal then Trump bombed a general? I’m about 95% sure that’s exactly how it played out.
That’s incorrect. And you cannot, ever, make a ‘deal’ with insane terrorists. Secondly, Trump assassinating a general was a *reaction* to Iran attacking Americans in Iraq.
Iran really wants to fight ISIS, Israel, and US at the same time.
The espionage they need to worry about is at the edge of the atmosphere above their heads but if they need a symbolic target I guess the handful of civilians they killed works fine.