It's not a terrible target. Long-term it puts stress on US/UAE cooperation, and short-term it mirrors the destabilization inside Iran with escalation outside it.

From the armchair perspective, these sorts of strikes are exactly what I'd imagine that China is advocating for behind closed doors. A few well-placed drone strikes can cause more economic damage than any SAM shootdown or embassy attack could, tactically accelerating the war and strategically entrenching Chinese technology.

He may care in the end, because TACO. Looks like this is a pattern of modern war where both sides are testing the escalation levels by attacking the infrastructure. It‘s like MAD, but going up in smaller increments rather than hitting with everything after one or two limited strikes like nuclear. Basically, you hit my power plant, I‘ll hit yours. It‘s the same path Ukraine went on: they initially showed restraint in responses, but now they are matching Russian pressure by choosing the same civilian targets.

Trump must save face. Publicly backing down is only possible once there's some kind of out, probably involving Iran loudly compromising.

The view from the couch is such that everything seems pretty easy really.

We are in a really bad situation, of our own making no doubt.

We actually have no idea who's in charge of Iran (the stated ruler has yet to be seen and probably was severely injured in the same blast that killed Khamenei), but it's a pretty good bet that they are even more extreme and hard-line than before.

We've shown that Iran has complete and total control over the global economy via energy markets.

Every other country in the region wants Iran gone. Or to put it in more direct terms, the US kind of needs to "finish the job".

If we back down now, Iran wins, and that may actually be the worst possible situation to end up in.

To everyone who voted for Trump ... YOU VOTED FOR THIS. THANKS.

Irans leadership does not want to be killed by being bombed every few month. So they need to impose sufficient costs to deter bombing them.

Idk what you are missing... maybe that people don't want to be killed and try to implement strategies to not get killed?

ran started with 5 demands:

* US out of middle east entirely (meaning removing the army bases protecting the gulf countries)

* Cessation of hostilities, including their proxy forces

* Security guarantees, including for their proxy forces (translation: letting Iran fully take over Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and probably soon Saudi Arabia)

* Payment of war reparations to the IRGC

* Taxing the strait of Hormuz

They're down to 1 demand only: cessation of hostilities, only against Iran itself. Well, let's not forget who we're talking to. The only thing Iran's "revolutionaries", but in reality a dictator with a bunch of mansions in London, wants is guarantees for his own safety.

Now it's war and no doubt things can go very badly very quickly. But, so far, seems to be going pretty damn well for the US if we're being honest.