With that background I'm more worried about what the US's role here will be rather than what may or may not be taking place in Iran. My understanding is that the simulations around an invasion of the country were even more disastrous than the excursions in Afghanistan and Iraq and we really could use some signals of competence out of the US right now. We seem to be dangerously far into a WWI or WWII style environment internationally and we're already past the threshold of nuclear risk that sane actors would accept.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Israel_war
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran#Mosaddegh_and_the_Shah's_...
Fascinating.
Like, the previous king was a clown, true, but this regime hasn't exactly been a steward of the people's happiness has it
If you picked a random baker and put him in charge he'd do a better job
The King was authoritarian, but also a bohemian. The Roundheads were religious fanatics. They succeeded in overthrowing the Crown and executing the King, but they also turned out to be insufferably religious. After Cromwell died, the population re-invited the deposed monarch's son back, under some conditions. He met those conditions; his successor did not, but was promptly thrown out into exile, because he wasn't able to consolidate enough power anymore.
Unfortunately the Iranian population wasn't able to reconsider their choice after Khomeini's death (1989), because the government was much stronger and much more willing to kill. Also because of the Iraq-Iran war.
Are you surprised? The Islamic Republic has been drumming "Death to the USA, death to Israel" for almost fifty years and they invested a lot of money into both Hezbollah and their nuclear program.
They obviously cannot destroy America, but they could destroy Israel. Are you surprised that Israel wants to deny them this capability?
metalman•1h ago
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/protests-against-ice-plann...
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/us/ice-shooting-protests-...
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/11/us/ice-protests-shootings-min...
logicchains•1h ago
flanked-evergl•1h ago
jalapenos•42m ago
spwa4•1h ago
Plus after wars the mullahs wanted that ended in total disaster and enormous numbers of casualties (given that the central promise of islam, of allah if you will, is military success), whilst the mullahs never had real support of the Iranian army, there are now reports of a lot of individual soldiers and even one or two of entire units attacking mullahs and religious schools, killing teachers and students. Oh, and after the recent "success" against Israel, the mullahs once again cut military pensions, with now reports they just stopped paying entirely. Given that it's the military doing the planes, one wonders that if the "supreme leader" runs to a plane if he'd make it on board the plane without a bullet. The government only has the basiji, the "religious army" (technically their name means mobilization of the oppressed, a reference to Marxism, and to who brought the mullahs to power. Of course in practice the basiji is anything but what their name implies, they are the oppressors).
flanked-evergl•1h ago
Someone told me with a straight face once that we will one day come to see The Handmaid's Tale as a documentary and not just a novel. A statement that one can only make with a straight face if one is incredibly ignorant of the world.
I'm sure these US domestic pet peeves will exist even if some attention is given to the mass atrocities occurring in Iran. Not every local interest story in the US has to become international news. We really don't care.
metalman•1h ago
many of the people protesting the exectution of Renee Good, are carrying Palastinian, and Irainian flags, as they know the same people are behind ALL of our troubles.
flanked-evergl•59m ago
I also don't know who Renee Good is, and I don't care. Domestic US politics is not really my concern. 1,000 of people being executed because they don't like their theocratic overlords is actual international news.
inglor_cz•51m ago
Which is also a major source of anger in Iran proper. Not because of Palestine directly, but because the economy is terrible and the regime will still invest into its geopolitical games instead of domestic prosperity.
As of today, there is simply no exchange rate for Iranian rial to euro. The currency has entered some sort of black hole.
flanked-evergl•47m ago
But sure, Islamo-fascist regimes and Islamo-fascist terrorists are natural allies.
metalman•14m ago
inglor_cz•56m ago
jalapenos•46m ago
I reckon Netanyahu and the Ayatollah would've been good friends in another life.
spwa4•38m ago
Can't remember the last time that was wrong.
inglor_cz•27m ago
spwa4•41m ago
In case people don't realize the link between the two.
Both refer to the US (and Europe for that matter) as "the big satan" (meaning more important an enemy than Israel), showcasing their primary objective is to destroy US and more generally western influence. And actions against Israel are in service of that goal. Both Palestinians and Iranians are, to put it mildly, not shy about attacking and displacing population groups, including their own, and Palestinians aren't shy about using genocide to achieve it. Both have shown this extensively. The objective of these organizations is not better lives for Palestinians, Iranians, muslims or whoever. It's to get the US out of the middle east, and ideally do to the US what the US did to Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in WW2: starve the US of oil and with that energy.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB106419296113226300
kryptiskt•1h ago
inglor_cz•57m ago
If not, why do you even bother to hijack the conversation?
jalapenos•54m ago