Are We About to Go to War with Iran?

[Doc Safari]

I'd been wanting to do a thread on this for several days, but this seemed to present the best opportunity:

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...dont-seem-care

This is the closest that the U.S. has been to a war with Iran in decades, and yet most Americans are either clueless or they don’t seem to believe that it could actually happen

And I certainly don’t think that President Trump wants a war, but he is surrounded by war hawks that have been pushing an extremely aggressive “get tough” policy with Iran. The Trump administration just canceled the waivers that were allowing other nations to continue purchasing Iranian oil, and the goal of that move is to reduce Iranian exports to zero. But oil exports are 40 percent of the Iranian economy, and the Iranians understand that this move could absolutely cripple their economy. The Iranians have threatened to close the straight of Hormuz in retaliation, and that would almost certainly provoke a U.S. military response. In addition, it is being reported that on Wednesday the Iranians will announce that they are taking steps to restart their nuclear program…

On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to announce small steps to resume his country’s nuclear program. According to the New York Times, that will include conducting research on centrifuges that can make nuclear fuel, and curbing nuclear inspections from observers.

Of course the truth is that the Iranians never fully abandoned their nuclear program in the first place, but that is supposed to be a big secret.

In any event, tensions between the U.S. and Iran have now reached frightening levels.

On Sunday, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton announced that the USS Abraham Lincoln and four B-52 bombers are being sent to the Middle East as a message to Iran…

Four B-52 Stratofortress bombers are being sent to the Mideast to support the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in moves aimed at countering threats from Iran, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.

The B-52s, from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, are deploying to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a hub for U.S. air operations in the region, CBS News reported.

Apparently there was some intelligence which indicated that Iran was planning a possible attack on U.S. forces in the region, and Bolton said that these deployments would make it very clear that any assault would be “met with unrelenting force”…

The deployments would “send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States’ interests, or on those of our allies, will be met with unrelenting force,” he said in a statement. “The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.”

In response, the Iranians accused the U.S. of engaging in a form of “psychological warfare”.

In addition to everything else, CNN is reporting that it appears that the Iranians have been “moving short-range ballistic missiles aboard boats in the Persian Gulf”, and this has deeply alarmed U.S. officials…

Intelligence showing that Iran is likely moving short-range ballistic missiles aboard boats in the Persian Gulf was one of the critical reasons the US decided to move an aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers into the region, according to several US officials with direct knowledge of the situation.

The concerns over the movement of the missiles was one of multiple threads of intelligence from various sources that led the US to believe Iran had a capability and intention to launch strikes against US targets.

...we could be soon engaged in a conflict that could literally spark World War 3.

While they are certainly no match for the U.S., the truth is that the Iranian military is quite strong, and they possess weapons of immense destructive power. And in the event of a military conflict with the U.S., the Iranians have already said that they will hit Israel too.

And if Israel gets hit, they will certainly strike back at Iran extremely hard.

The Iranians absolutely hate both the United States and Israel, and recent moves by the Trump administration have pushed the Iranians into a corner.

A cornered animal is extremely dangerous, and at this point the Iranians may feel as if the only option they have left is to lash out.

As a first step, they could potentially close the Strait of Hormuz, and that would instantly create a global oil crisis.

My take: Things definitely appear to be escalating but I will defer to people with more knowledge than I have as to whether this is genuinely the brink of war or if it's more of the brinksmanship we have witnessed over the years.

[Krazykarl]

Would we really be fighting a war with Iran? China, Russia, the true enemy?

[Straight Shooter]

Look here..this shit with Iran, N. Korea, China, Russia and all the other trouble makers has been kicked down the road for decades. SHOULD HAVE been dealt with during the Clinton years. Theyve let them grow now to be a big enough threat. But, if we..America..continue to kick it down the road, we are truly in for some serious serious shit soon. SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE, & FAST.
I dont know what that something is..Im just a poor old country boy...but America & its allies WILL SUFFER badly if we continue to just do nothing.
I am willing to suffer to get rid of the threats that have hung over our heads since the eighties, if not earlier.

[26 Inf]

I think that you have folks in place who would like nothing more than to kick off a war with Iran, Bolton for example.

[Doc Safari]

I think that you have folks in place who would like nothing more than to kick off a war with Iran, Bolton for example.

Yes, I used to really like Bolton, but I think he masturbates to reports of enemy incursions at the present.

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

Same thing happened in 2011/12. Iran CLOSED the Straits of Hormuz. I was on the USS Pearl Harbor, as we (our WestPac/MEU), along with a carrier group and sub escorts, opened it back up by pushing right through their little fastboat armada. Was really a sight to see. Maybe it will come to a head eventually, but I don't see it happening soon.

[Diamondback]

A friend in my college days (she was faculty, not a fellow student) happens to be of Persian heritage, and has a fatwa on her head thanks to the black-turbaned turds. I for one enthusiastically support Regime Change in Tehran, if for no other reason than so she can rest easier at night.

[Honu]

as I understand we are moving things around constantly and talking is cheap and seems to be done weekly daily whatever so I do not see us any closer then any other time in recent history since letting them gain so much power ?

if anything I think we would secretly back Israel to do some more sabotage etc.. chip away etc..

but I do not trust what they would do as they have nothing to lose and everything to gain in starting a war

[Diamondback]

as I understand we are moving things around constantly and talking is cheap and seems to be done weekly daily whatever so I do not see us any closer then any other time in recent history since letting them gain so much power ?

if anything I think we would secretly back Israel to do some more sabotage etc.. chip away etc..

but I do not trust what they would do as they have nothing to lose and everything to gain in starting a war

This is part of the big thing for Arab-Israeli reconciliation--Iran's only friend in the region is Syria, and the main thing that lets them stay as far up the food chain as they do is that their enemies are kept fighting among themselves, the "fingers" of Guderian's quote rather than assembling into a "fist."

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Does Zerohedge ever actually work out? They seem to always have something that seems like it will track, but never does.