Here's the opinion piece:

would quit shit like this:

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17144-iran-threatens-to-destroy-israel-in-less-than-10-minutes

then Israel wouldn't feel it needs such weapons in their pocket. If Israel didn't have nukes, they'd be destroyed by now.

the deal?

I do know that Israel has been acting petulant ever since the deal was announced. One would think they would greet this deal warmly, but no.

However, it is understandable, since their main reason for leeching $3 billion from the US annually is almost gone.

You think this clown has changed his mind? I think it's adorable you think Congress is going to cut aid to Israel when, in fact, it's probably going to go up.

And that's assuming they don't covertly build any underground military nuclear facilities, like they've already done twice.

The part where they get 24 days to hide evidence of nuclear work is ridiculous. But I also know the Europeans can't wait to get their hands on lucrative deals with Iran so sanctions would have been lifted anyway. It was probably the best deal that could have gotten signed. But I'll NEVER trust the Iranians as long as their mullahs are in charge. NEVER.

then people wouldn't be so incline to speak so poorly of Israel:



The Israeli soldiers murdered the person that greeted them at the door and then used some of the occupants as human shields:

about Iran not starting any wars. They are the principal financers of hamas, hezbollah, islamic jihad. Trying to turn them into kittens just makes you look pretty foolish.

Hezbollah can be congratulated for ending Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, which was their right. I know who were the bad guys in that conflict.

Defending hamas and hizbollah? That's what this place has come to? That's pathetic.

Fortunately most people here don't agree with you, but strangely, you are able to promote your extreme racism and not get banned.

That appears to be a form of white privilege: Israel can brutalize brown Muslims, and the victims are to blame.

because I think hamas and hezbollah are terrorist organizations. I guess that makes sense to you. And this is why nobody of any power has anything to do with DU. We're done here.

....if you don't count all of these:

Georgian-Persian War-(1795-1796)-After consolidating his power, Agha Mohammed invaded the Caucasian kingdom of Georgia, which had previously been a part of the Persian Empire, but had broken away following the death of Nadir Shah in 1747. Persian forces invaded Georgia and defeated the Georgian King Heraclius.

Afghan-Persian War-(1798)-The new Shah of Persia, Fath Ali, supported a pretender to the Afghan throne against the Afghan King. The pretender, Muhammad Barakzai overthrew his brother, Zaman, with help from an invading Persian army.

Afghan-Persian War-(1816)-Persia invaded Afghanistan and occupied the western Afghan city of Herat. Local Afghan guerrillas forced the Persians to exit Afghanistan.

Turkish-Persian War-(1821-1823)-The regime of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza launched an attack on Ottoman Turkey due to Turkish aid to Azerbaijani rebels in Persia. The rebels had fled from Persia and were given refuge by the Ottomans. The war opened with a Persian invasion of Turkey in the Lake Van region, and a counter-invasion by the Ottoman Pasha of Baghdad (Iraq belonged to the Ottoman Empire), who invaded western Persia. This invasion force was driven back across the border, but the newly modernized Persian army of 30,000 troops defeated 50,000 Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Erzurum near Lake Van in 1821. A peace treaty in 1823 ended the war with no changes to their mutual border.

Russo-Persian War --(1825-1828)--This war resulted from the ongoing border disputes arising from the Treaty of Gulistan (1813) between Persia and Russia. Persian forces were initially successful, capturing the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in 1825. Russian forces led by General Ivan Fedorovich Paskievich went on the offensive against the invading Persians and defeated them at the Battle of Ganja (also known as the Battle of Kirovabad) on September 26, 1826.

Afghan-Persian War-(1836-1838)-Persia invaded Afghanistan partly in response to Britain's influence in the region, and laid siege to the western Afghan city of Herat. The Herat defenders were aided by a British military advisor named Eldred Potter. Potter offered his services to the Afghans and set about organizing the city's defenses. Persian assaults on the city failed, and the invading army gave up the siege (September 28, 1838), and returned home.

Afghan/Anglo-Persian War-(1855-1857)-Persia again invaded Afghanistan, this time successfully capturing Herat. This upset the British, who claimed influence over Afghanistan. The British Empire declared war on Persia (Nov. 1, 1856), and proceeded to invade Persia both by sea and by land. British forces landed and took the Persian port of Bushire in January, 1857.

Dhofar War-(1973-1975)--Iran sent troops to Oman to aid the Sultan of Oman, who was fighting against Marxist rebels aided by South Yemen. The Shah of Iran reportedly wanted to not only support a fellow pro-Western Gulf Monarch, but also wanted to give his troops combat experience in the field.

And lately we have ongoing support for the Assads in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and Shia rebels in Yemen.

Thanks for making it clear that Iran has not, in fact, started a war in anything close to recent history.

The Dhofar War wasn't started by Iran.

...but the claim that Iran hasn't started a war in several centuries was made to counter the assertion that Iran is currently actively starting wars, which apparently includes anything and everything involving Hamas or Hezbollah.

Not to mention that the difference between 160+ years and 200+ in a discussion about Iran as a present day threat seems a bit like splitting hairs.

and try to use it to try to scare others and undermine good people seeking peace in the world, especially in this forum.

to ask the Israeli's to not believe what's right in front of their faces and trust the mullahs. Nothing disingenuous about believing actual quoted people - unless it's against the Israeli's apparently. Are you also going to use the ridiculous argument that Iran hasn't started a war in 20 years while at the same time knowing they are the financial backers of hamas, hezbollah (who blew up our Marines in Lebanon) and islamic jihad? Should Israel forget those FACTS also? Is it disingenuous to bring that up also?

Half (or more) of the shit we are involved in over there would not be happening if we weren't acting in Israel's interests.

Israel should act in its OWN interests, and we should act in OURS.

Right now it is in OUR interests to come to a deal with Iran, because the only realistic alternatives to that are that they will develop a bomb, or we will be at war.

I'm not sure the deal will prevent a war with Iran, but I goddamned sure that no deal will practically guarantee one, and I am fucking sick of pouring money and blood into that region.

If Israel wants a war with Iran, it can fight it by itself AFAIC.

If you remember back to the first Iraq war, while Israel had scud missiles raining down on them, the US specifically asked Israel not to respond - and they didn't. So much for acting in Israel's interests. We went back to Iraq because sadaam tried to kill W's daddy - and for no other reason. We're there at all for oil - and for no other reason. Those of you trying to blame Israel for our military industrial complex work my last fucking nerve.

I'm personally tired of funneling them Billions of dollars every year just to have their leader insert himself into our internal politics. We fund a big hunk of their military, while they provide universal health care for their citizens. Oh yeah, and give us the middle finger while they continue to expand settlements and slow walk action against illegal settlements.

And yeah, asking them not to respond WAS in their interests, since Iraq was PRAYING they would respond and sink the coalition. WE provided them with a lot of air defense on our for that (and Iron Dome has lots of American dollars in it too).

And yeah, we ARE targeted by many jihadists for our continual propping up of Israel.

I'm done with them, personally.

I don't give a shit what you're worried about. Blaming Israel for our adventures in the middle east is dishonest bullshit. If you want to talk about foreign aid, that's an entirely different argument. I detest bibi and all he stands for but that doesn't mean you get to lie about bullshit like we're in the middle east on behalf of Israel.

10 years prior, Israel bombed the Osirak nuclear plant in Iraq, killing approximately 11 people without any consequences.

The scud attack killed 2-3 people. That doesn't justify the attack, but it does, once again, put the lie to the notion that Israel is going to get wiped out any time soon while they freely kill whomever, wherever, and whenever they please in far greater numbers whenever it suits them.

Care to discuss the U.S.S. Liberty?

You nicely exclude any and all crimes by Israel, so yeah, it is completely disingenuous.

The mullahs can make all the speeches they want. It's never been more than propaganda at most. When, in the last 50 years, has any attack on Israel ever come even remotely close to imperiling the nation?

It is ridiculous to say that Iran hasn't started a war in 20 years because they haven't started one since they were considered Persia, nearly 200 years ago. You can try and conflate state sponsored terrorism with starting a war, but it isn't nearly the same thing. Just ask any sitting US president going back to Kennedy (and probably further, actually). Consider the Nicaraguan Contras, to pluck one of the most notorious examples from recent U.S. history. More people die in the U.S. every year from firearm related incidents than have died in Israel from all terrorist attacks combined in it's entire history. In fact, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel since it's creation far and away outstrips the number of Israelis. Do I need to go into the amount of Israeli land occupied by Palestinians, or how many time Gaza and the West Bank have invaded Israel and bombed whole neighborhoods? It's super easy to count to zero. Israel doesn't need nuclear weapons. They have the 11th most powerful army in the world and are completely backed by the U.S., currently ranked at #1. Iran is 12 places lower at #23. Iran will never risk anything more than a proxy conflict at most. If they want nuclear weapons (which no one has proven with any evidence beyond hateful rhetoric and ...well...that's it), it's as a deterrent to the very real threats coming from Israel and the U.S. GOP (and too many Democrats), who undoubtedly despise the notion of any lose of power in the Mid East, particular in the face of new Russian and Chinese alliances in the region.

Israel has every right to defend itself, but Israel doesn't get a pass just because it's Israel. Collective punishment and civilian bombing and land and resource theft are crimes no matter which nation commits them. Just Google Israeli deaths vs Palestinian deaths for some perspective and then come back and argue that it's totally okay to kill hundreds of civilians, including children, to exact revenge for the loss of even one Israeli life.

than Americans - what a fucking ridiculous argument to make. If hamas and their pals wouldn't store weapons behind women and children, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Let's all remember if they had taken the deal given to them in 1947 instead of starting a war, they'd have a country instead of a garbage pit in gaza. It's their own fault.

The discussion was about supposed threats to Israel in the Middle East, specifically Iran and it's support for groups like Hezbollah. My point is 100% dead on. Palestinians have more to fear from Israel than Israel has to fear from the Palestinians. No amount of stored munitions hidden away in Gaza is going to topple Israel or result in massive casualties. Again, this isn't to let the leadership of Hamas off the hook. They essentially exploit the civilian population to provoke Israel, knowing full well what will happen. Increasingly, however, it seems Israel is almost eager to play along, taking every opportunity to aggravate the problem, whether through military action as in Gaza, or through the continued appropriation of land to further construct illegal settlements on the West Bank.

The fact that the U.S. protects Israel even in the face of massive international criticism is certainly not lost on the Arab community, many of whom already see the U.S. as a dishonest broker, interested only in profit and empire.

We do not.

was running for President? That's what you think ruins our credibility? Whatever.

Hoooo-kay then...

Google "GOP war with Iran", then try again...

Oh yes. The horror. The horror.

By the way, your Candidate has threatened to obliterate Iran, if Iran should attack Israel.

to restrain itself thus far--as well as the US. Let's see if Iran complies fully and doesn't cheat over the next ten years before they start making demands of other countries to disarm.