Israel-Gaza War (and Iranian Distractions)

[C C]

India has already ramped up oil imports from Russia, so Iran's very threat of closing the Strait of Hormuz is a benefit for Putin land. Loss of fossil fuel sales would injure Iran's own economy. One presumes that they can clean up their own naval mines, but if they used that method, it would likely mean a longer closure time than the historically short-lived ones. Especially if they stubbornly balked and left it to the US to expend its resources mopping up the mines. (Back to playing "world policeman" once again, despite the deglobalization agenda or trend.)

[Magical Realist]

Retaliatory missile strikes on US airbase in Qatar as we speak. Yep..this is the problem with the simplistic notion of one clean preemptive bombing and then peace. Things always escalate. The stakes always change. And before you know it it's all out war.

[Syne]

Iran reportedly coordinated the attack with Qatar... you know, the funder of Al Jareeza, etc..
It's reported the US had "good advance warning" and there were no reported US casualties: https://www.axios.com/2025/06/23/iran-re...israel-war

I haven't seen anyone presume that Iran would suddenly be peaceful... although that would have been a better outcome. Instead, Israel and the US can keep killing their leaders and destroying their military capabilities. Neither of which require going to war or having troops on the ground.

Funny how all the proponents of a forever war in Ukraine are suddenly peaceniks again... defending the greatest global sponsor of terrorism.

[stryder]

Iran reportedly coordinated the attack with Qatar... you know, the funder of Al Jareeza, etc..
It's reported the US had "good advance warning" and there were no reported US casualties: https://www.axios.com/2025/06/23/iran-re...israel-war

I haven't seen anyone presume that Iran would suddenly be peaceful... although that would have been a better outcome. Instead, Israel and the US can keep killing their leaders and destroying their military capabilities. Neither of which require going to war or having troops on the ground.

Trump and the International community want Iran to come back to the table in regards to where to go from here and Peace, however if they had not retaliated in any way, it would lead to people constantly worrying about where, when and how they would retaliate. It would even make it difficult to be diplomatic for that reason.

So it's best that they have done something, not just to save face but just to reduce the tension that would otherwise would exist with cloaked daggers.

Funny how all the proponents of a forever war in Ukraine are suddenly peaceniks again... defending the greatest global sponsor of terrorism.

Ukraine's war would ended by now if it was proven that Putin had plotted an assassination on Trump or if Russia's planned intentions was the destruction of America.
It's only because those lines haven't been crossed that Trump has been so lenient with Putin.

[Yazata]

Iran calls it Operation Basharat al-Fath and their "Supreme National Security Council" claims that Iran "pulverized" the Al Udeid air base in Qatar. (The US moved all of its aircraft out of the base days ago in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack.)

Qatar issued the following statement:

"The Ministry of Defense announced that Qatari air defenses successfully intercepted a missile attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base.

Thanks to God and the vigilance of the armed forces personnel and the precautionary measures taken, the incident resulted in no deaths or injuries.

The Ministry reaffirmed that the airspace and territory of the State of Qatar are safe and that the Qatari Armed Forces are always fully prepared to deal with any threat. The Ministry of Defense also advises citizens and residents to follow official sources for directives and the latest developments.”

In reality, I believe that many/all of the interceptor missiles (US made Patriots) were fired by US forces at the base. (The Pentagon is saying this.) Apparently all of the Iranian missiles were intercepted and none made it through to the airbase. Though when a missile is intercepted, it (and the interceptor rocket) don't just disappear. There are reports of rocket fragments falling in Qatar, some of them large, though no reports of casualties or significant damage.

Sirens had sounded in all of the gulf states, though the attack proved to be small and restricted to that one base. The air raid sirens in places like Kuwait were just precautionary. There is no evidence that any other US facility in the region has come under attack.

My own take on this is that Iran felt that it had to do something, but it definitely doesn't want to get into a war with the United States that could threaten their regime's survival. So this little token attack is more of a face-saving gesture than anything else.

Trump doesn't want to get into a war with Iran either and I don't anticipate that the US will fire back.

[Syne]

Trump and the International community want Iran to come back to the table in regards to where to go from here and Peace, however if they had not retaliated in any way, it would lead to people constantly worrying about where, when and how they would retaliate. It would even make it difficult to be diplomatic for that reason.

So it's best that they have done something, not just to save face but just to reduce the tension that would otherwise would exist with cloaked daggers.

Even though Khamenei already threatened sleeper cells in the US, Iranians still chanting "death to America?"
Doesn't seem to help diplomacy.

Funny how all the proponents of a forever war in Ukraine are suddenly peaceniks again... defending the greatest global sponsor of terrorism.

Ukraine's war would ended by now if it was proven that Putin had plotted an assassination on Trump or if Russia's planned intentions was the destruction of America.
It's only because those lines haven't been crossed that Trump has been so lenient with Putin.

How could the US attack Russia without risking nuclear war? People keep talking big about what Trump could do for Ukraine, but they never answer that simple, obvious question.

[Yazata]

The United States appears to have interpreted this as Iran trying to take the off-ramp from further military confrontation, and the US seems to be doing the same.

President Trump says

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[Syne]

Hope that's true, but Israel still has missile manufacturing and launching targets they want to hit.

[Yazata]

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[C C]

That's sound familiar, with respect to other conflict brokering elsewhere in the world. Hopefully it pans out this time.

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