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U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
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Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
#702Iran never had the deterrent North Korea had. And by being a theocracy they heavily skewed any threat calculus against themselves. What they were doing, inching towards nukes, was a horrible move. In their position, you either sprint covertly and not play at all. I suspect that after their nuclear program was discovered and set back they fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy and convinced themselves they could repurpo…
> What happened today likely saved millions of Iranian lives.
Today strike on Iran nuclear sites endangers millions of American and Israeli lives. It teaches Tehran the same lesson North Korea learned long ago. That only a nuclear deterrent secures a regime survival. To believe Iran will absorb this blow without striking back is not merely naive, it is dangerously delusional.
It is also clear any Iranian nuclear critical assets were moved to alternative secret sites long before the strikes, as satellite photos show: "Satellite images show activity at Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility before U.S. air strikes" - https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/22/satellite-images-show-activi...
Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
#703Iran never had the deterrent North Korea had. And by being a theocracy they heavily skewed any threat calculus against themselves. What they were doing, inching towards nukes, was a horrible move. In their position, you either sprint covertly and not play at all. I suspect that after their nuclear program was discovered and set back they fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy and convinced themselves they could repurpo…
> Iran never had the deterrent North Korea had. I feel very conflicted about what's happening. On one side it is clear that no country should give up their WMD projects. You lack that deterrent you get attacked, as simple as that. Libya, Syria, Iraq gave up their WMD projects eventually got bombed/attacked. > What happened today likely saved millions of Iranian lives. That's speculation. Since you name NK that's a cl…
> "You lack that deterrent you get attacked, as simple as that. Libya, Syria, Iraq gave up their WMD projects eventually got bombed/attacked."
It's not that simple. Those countries were destined towards collapse with or without nuclear weapons. Iraq, Libya, Syria—those are three countries that fell into catastrophic civil wars, along internal conflict lines, in power vacuums succeeding an unpopular dictator. None of those autocracies were stable in the long-term. (But a nuclear weapon is quite stable; it succeeds the falls of governments and passes on to whoever replaces them).
Deplore US' strategic stupidities all you want; but it's not the only actor with agency in the world.
Would anyone have been better off with Assad fighting a version of the 2010's civil war with nuclear weapons in his arsenal? Or Hussein, that sectarian war? Those are two men who gassed thousands of innocents with nerve agents; they wouldn't surely wouldn't hesitate long about dropping nukes.
(Can you deter a civil war with nuclear weapons?)
We could also ask who would have inherited a hypothetical Qaddafi nuke, after his fall: which Libya? There were at least three Libyas one point. ISIL governed one!
(One semantic nitpick: I don't think it's fair to say those dictators "gave up" their WMD's. With all three, their WMD programs were forcibly taken from them. In Iraq, 1981, the bombing of the Osirak reactor; and again in the 1991 Gulf War the bombing of Tuwaitha (which permanently ended Iraq's uranium enrichment). Qaddafi turned over all his nuclear materials to the USA, after being directly threatened, in the months following US' 2003 invasion of Iraq. And Assad lost his North Korean-built plutonium reactor in 2007, to an airstrike. Did anyone of these dictators have agency in those "give up WMD" choices? I think not).
Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
#704Iran never had the deterrent North Korea had. And by being a theocracy they heavily skewed any threat calculus against themselves. What they were doing, inching towards nukes, was a horrible move. In their position, you either sprint covertly and not play at all. I suspect that after their nuclear program was discovered and set back they fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy and convinced themselves they could repurpo…
or, you know, they just want power generators, like they claimed for decades now and all the UN auditors confirmed every time?
Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
#705I see a lot of nonsense in the comments.
Here are the facts:
1. Iran may or may not have been building a nuclear weapon. US intelligence says they were at least 3 years away.
2. Iran did not attack Israel. Israel attacked Iran.
3. Iran did not attack the US. The US bombed Iran only because Israel asked the US to do so.
Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
#706I see a lot of nonsense in the comments. Here are the facts: 1. Iran may or may not have been building a nuclear weapon. US intelligence says they were at least 3 years away. 2. Iran did not attack Israel. Israel attacked Iran. 3. Iran did not attack the US. The US bombed Iran only because Israel asked the US to do so.
Has everyone forgotten the music festival massacre?
Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
#707I see a lot of nonsense in the comments. Here are the facts: 1. Iran may or may not have been building a nuclear weapon. US intelligence says they were at least 3 years away. 2. Iran did not attack Israel. Israel attacked Iran. 3. Iran did not attack the US. The US bombed Iran only because Israel asked the US to do so.
Ukraine should learn. This how you do it. Bribe enough US Senators and the US will do anything for you. Even put US military lives in danger.
Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
#708Iran never had the deterrent North Korea had. And by being a theocracy they heavily skewed any threat calculus against themselves. What they were doing, inching towards nukes, was a horrible move. In their position, you either sprint covertly and not play at all. I suspect that after their nuclear program was discovered and set back they fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy and convinced themselves they could repurpo…
They were not inching towards nukes though, were they? And why is the threat calculus here their fault when the Israelis attacked Iran unprovoked? This top-voted comment is consent-manufacturing tripe.
Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
#709[flagged]
And then for the same Americans who utterly despise Europe to declare how Europe has become a shithole due to refugees and boost support for our right wing populist parties.
Re: U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites
#710I can't help but conclude the primary rogue state in region is not Iran - it's Israel: - Did not sign the non-proliferation treaty - Does not allow IAEA inspectors into their country - Nuclear weapons program widely believed to have started from material stolen from the US - Prime Minister wanted by the ICC for war crimes. Since 2023, they have: - Invaded and occupied parts of Syria and Lebanon - Bombed Syria, Lebano…
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