Israel launches attack on Iran

[Raze]

5 minutes ago, hundreth said:

Yeah, and if my grandmother had wheels she would be a bike. Because they can't and are not allowed to. 

They can, they chose not to. They could have went ahead with it for the last 20 years, they haven’t. They never created weapons grade uranium, and never developed a nuclear missile. 

23 minutes ago, Lyubov said:

Their entire state is built on the idea of wiping Israel off the map. 

That doesn’t match their behavior though. They never initiated a full on confrontation with Israel, instead just sending funds to small rebel groups. They never seriously tried to get nukes. They ignored Israel’s provocations to the point where israel had to go ahead and start the full scale war with them because otherwise they weren’t going to.

Edited June 17 by Raze

[PurpleTree]

7 minutes ago, Lyubov said:

Saudi Arabia hates Iran and is mortal enemies with them and if Iran has nukes SA will 1000% go after their own creating even more potential for war. 

I’d rather nobody have nukes. In a perfect scenario. No Russia, no Israel, no Pakistan, no US etc. 🦭

But if i had to choose between Saudi and Iran i choose Iran.

[LordFall]

4 hours ago, GroovyGuru said:

This has absolutely nothing to do with Islam. Making claims that Iran are crazy radical Islamic terrorists who are chomping at the bit to nuke Israel is just a low-IQ and ignorant take. These are the propaganda talking points that neo-cons and and war hawks use, and also people who just don't know ANYTHING about the situation. We live in 2025. Iran is a nation state that has relations with other countries and engages in trade, diplomacy, security and military interactions, other economic interactions, and so forth. All of this is to say, yes they are a theocracy, but that does not mean they don't operate like any other country, and that they have an ambition to blow up the world to reach paradise. Also, if Iran wanted to drop a nuke on Israel, they could have built one and done it already. Nothing is stopping them. Iran is the one who has been trying to negotiate this entire time, and seek a deal through diplomacy and without violence. You guys need to get this deeply ingrained propaganda about Islam out of your heads. The problem is, you have many types of Islam expressed throughout the Middle East, and ignorant people who don't understand the situation and context like to paint them all with a broad brush. I will say it once again, throughout this entire process, Iran has been the most level-headed and peaceful party involved in this conflict. Time and time again they have met at the negotiating table. It is the US who has backstabbed them, and Israel, a completely bloodthirsty country who will stop at nothing until this regime is deposed, who seek violence and escalation. 

That’s a wild take, they’re an authoritarian theocracy with 10% approval rating violently oppressing their citizens with not even fake elections. Their nuclear program got set far back last time by the stuxnet cyberattacks. 

If they’re rational and looking for peaceful diplomatic relations why not dismantle their nuclear program? Their claim that it’s for energy production is ridiculous. 

[Raze]

1 minute ago, LordFall said:

If they’re rational and looking for peaceful diplomatic relations why not dismantle their nuclear program? Their claim that it’s for energy production is ridiculous. 

Exactly, it worked out so well for Saddam and Gadaffi 

[PurpleTree]

1 minute ago, LordFall said:

 

If they’re rational and looking for peaceful diplomatic relations why not dismantle their nuclear program? Their claim that it’s for energy production is ridiculous. 

Because Syria, Iraq, Ukraine got invaded but North Korea not.

[LordFall]

@PurpleTree Different situation, the soviets helped NK develop their nuclear program to help their Cold War efforts. I don’t see any rational reason for Iran to double down on this at this point in time and perhaps Israel is taking it too far but I’d call their pretence for this attack justified. 

Let’s also not forget to seperate the populace from the government here, the regime is holding the wider population hostage similar to Hamas and the Palestinians. 

[PurpleTree]

1 minute ago, LordFall said:

@PurpleTree Different situation, the soviets helped NK develop their nuclear program to help their Cold War efforts. I don’t see any rational reason for Iran to double down on this at this point in time and perhaps Israel is taking it too far but I’d call their pretence for this attack justified. 

Let’s also not forget to seperate the populace from the government here, the regime is holding the wider population hostage similar to Hamas and the Palestinians. 

But even many of those people who don’t agree with the government and are more democratic think it’s a better idea to have nukes after they saw what happened with Iraq, Syria, Ukraine etc. or so i heard.

[Raze]

 

[hundreth]

35 minutes ago, Raze said:

They can, they chose not to. They could have went ahead with it for the last 20 years, they haven’t. They never created weapons grade uranium, and never developed a nuclear missile. 

That doesn’t match their behavior though. They never initiated a full on confrontation with Israel, instead just sending funds to small rebel groups. They never seriously tried to get nukes. They ignored Israel’s provocations to the point where israel had to go ahead and start the full scale war with them because otherwise they weren’t going to.

Just because you say so?

They enriched uranium past energy levels, closer to weapon grade. Multiple times.

They arm and fund anti Israel groups all over the region. 

[hundreth]

Quote

Yes — there are credible reports and international assessments indicating that Iran has pursued nuclear weapons-related work at various points over the past 20 years, though its exact intentions and current status have remained a matter of debate.

 

Here’s a breakdown based on declassified intelligence, IAEA findings, and consensus among global powers:

🧪 1. 

Early 2000s: Covert Nuclear Weapons Program Identified

2002–2003: Iranian opposition groups revealed undeclared facilities at Natanz and Arak. These sites were not disclosed to the IAEA, triggering global concern.

2003: The IAEA found Iran in non-compliance with its safeguards agreement for not declaring nuclear material and facilities.

U.S. Intelligence (2007 NIE): Concluded Iran had a structured nuclear weapons program until 2003, which was halted, but weapons-relevant activities may have continued in some form.

📁 2. 

“Amad Plan” Documents

Captured by Mossad in 2018 from a Tehran warehouse (often referred to as the “Nuclear Archive”).

These secret Iranian documents detailed:

Weaponization work (e.g. designing a nuclear warhead for a Shahab-3 missile).

Underground testing infrastructure.

Manufacturing of nuclear weapon components.

Widely regarded by analysts as concrete evidence that Iran had a weapons program, even if it paused post-2003.

🧩 3. 

IAEA Investigations: PMD (Possible Military Dimensions)

Between 2004–2015, the IAEA investigated “possible military dimensions” of Iran’s program.

Their 2015 report concluded:

Iran did conduct weapons-related activities until 2009.

No evidence of continuing weaponization beyond that, but lingering concerns remained (e.g. high-explosives testing, neutron initiators).

🤝 4. 

JCPOA (2015) and Sunset Clauses

In exchange for limits on uranium enrichment and intrusive inspections, Iran received sanctions relief.

Critics argued the deal allowed Iran to resume enrichment at scale after certain limits expired (“sunset clauses”).

Iran claimed it never wanted a bomb — only civilian nuclear energy.

📉 5. 

Post-2018 Developments (after U.S. withdrawal)

After Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018:

Iran escalated enrichment dramatically (60%+ purity, near weapons-grade).

IAEA access declined, and some cameras were removed.

Iran began using advanced centrifuges and increased its stockpile of enriched uranium.

These moves shortened Iran’s “breakout time” — the time needed to produce enough material for one bomb — to as little as 7–12 days by 2023–2024.

🔍 6. 

Current Consensus (2025)

 

Most Western intelligence and independent experts agree:

Iran had a structured weapons program pre-2003.

Weapons-relevant R&D may have continued afterward under the guise of civilian or dual-use research.

Iran is now nuclear weapons-capable in terms of material and knowledge, though it may not have crossed the line into actual warhead assembly — yet.

✅ Summary

 

Yes — there is overwhelming evidence that Iran has tried to develop nuclear weapons-related capabilities over the past two decades, even if not continuously. The extent of its intent vs. capability remains debated, but its trajectory and concealment efforts show a longstanding strategic interest in keeping the nuclear option open.

 

Edited June 17 by hundreth

[Raze]

10 minutes ago, hundreth said:

Just because you say so?

They enriched uranium past energy levels, closer to weapon grade. Multiple times.

They arm and fund anti Israel groups all over the region. 

So why didn’t they enrich it to weapons grade? Even if they did that it would take them more time to them build the actual weapon. You think they couldn’t have tried that at any time in the past 20 years?

Why did they agree to the JCPOA which kept their enrichment below weaponization, and followed it.

 

[hundreth]

1 minute ago, Raze said:

So why didn’t they enrich it to weapons grade? Even if they did that it would take them more time to them build the actual weapon. You think they couldn’t have tried that at any time in the past 20 years?

Why did they agree to the JCPOA which kept their enrichment below weaponization, and followed it.

 

Is that a serious question? They were thwarted by Israel each time. Stuxnet, bombing campaigns, and yes - diplomacy too. Governments are always juggling 100s of priorities. Obama convinced them sanctions relief would be better than continuing their program. Perhaps it was a great move. 

[BlueOak]

Usual dictator work. Fight wars when your unpopular or want to stay in power. Make it all about the military and law enforcement. Only America is run by a wannabe dictator also, and so that's factoring into everything going on.

Now Trump is calling for Iranian surrender. 
 

Kyle's take:
 

Disgusting people all around. Just more war war war, that's all the authoritarians always want. Make everyone look like them, think like them, and conform or die. 

[BlueOak]

I hope some political figure in the UK has a spine enough to oppose the US, but I doubt it given Russia putting pressure on Europe and Europe needing the US to at least be mildly interested in stopping it.

Edited June 17 by BlueOak

[Atb210201]

I'm really stating to believe that all these are just a show between Israel and Iran and actually they are together in this trying to steal from the people of Iran.

[zazen]

7 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

Doing this would work against Iran; it would be suicidal, as it would legitimize the US's full-throttle attack. What would Iran achieve with this? Most likely, there will be a de-escalation soon, and the Iranian regime will be weakened but not destroyed. Any other option would be catastrophic, although anything is possible, of course

Yeah, which is why I made sure to write could instead of would - it would be insane to do so. I can only imagine this as a last resort. 

7 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

The whole world now sees the true face of the US, which makes it possible for the US to be even more abusive because it doesn't need to clean up its image. 

We all await the end of the imperialist dynamic. This is probably its final gasp. China is too smart to jump into the fray like a retarded bull. It will bide its time patiently as sun tzu would say and prevail without violence except if it's attacked, what is almost impossible 

Good point - similar to Israel. They simply conclude the worlds gonna hate no matter what so might as well just do what they want, and call critique anti-semitic.

I do think there are some wider geopolitical goals for subduing Iran - that the US would like to pursue in order to maintain hegemony beyond just Israel wanting regional dominance.

Iran sells 90% of its oil to China in currency other than the dollar. That lays a model path for other resource rich nations to de-dollarize. If the gulf were to ever think about trading oil in Yuan, surely regime changing or bombing Iran might make them think twice.

Iran is like a gatekeeper nation in the largest landmass on earth - Eurasia. It sits between North-South and East-West corridors overlooking multiple chokepoints by sea and land. It's resource rich, has a large population, a decent industrial-science base, and is one of the oldest civilization. If it weren't sanctioned it would eclipse its rival across the gulf in regional clout.

It's hard for empire to have such a nation be openly defiant of it, especially when it positions itself as the resistance. They can't have a example of such a nation existing in case others follow suit. Now we have BRICS and BRI of which Iran is integrating into - with China Russia Iran having their own axis for Eurasia itself - it's a central node. If Russia and China are too big to confront might as well go for Iran to slow down multi-polarity.

Edited June 17 by zazen

[Nivsch]

24 minutes ago, Atb210201 said:

I'm really stating to believe that all these are just a show between Israel and Iran and actually they are together in this trying to steal from the people of Iran

Can you please explain more what you mean?

[zazen]

1 hour ago, Raze said:

You think they couldn’t have tried that at any time in the past 20 years?

It's actually absurd to think that a nation like Iran, home to the one of the oldest civilizations, can be told by a 200 year old nation like the US what it can and can't pursue whilst other nations not only have that same thing but have used it (US).  Country X telling country Y they can't have weapon Z, meanwhile country X has weapons X,Y and Z and uses them ruthlessly.

If we just put ourselves in Iran's shoes -  a regional belligerent like Israel un-officially has nukes and is backed by the worlds largest imperial belligerent, your neighbor Pakistan has nukes and is ideologically divergent from you (if Sunni-Shia divide flares up), your rival Saudi Arabia is a short hop across the gulf is aligned to your nuke stacked neighbor and views you as a competitor for energy markets and regional dominance, and is also backed by the words imperial power looking to maintain its primacy.

It would be absolutely idiotic to be in such a position and not pursue deterrence. Of course they tried pursuing this especially after the US inserted itself into the Middle East post 2000 in the war of terror knocking out country after country with think tanks clearly outlining their plans and ambitions.

Yet, they still signed up to the nuclear deal in 2015, unilaterally left by the US in 2018, after which they were prompted to enrich to sit at the threshold level. And now again, they get preemptively attacked during negotiations, and their main negotiator decapitated. 
 

Edited June 17 by zazen

[hundreth]

6 minutes ago, zazen said:

It's actually absurd to think that a nation like Iran, home to the one of the oldest civilizations, can be told by a 200 year old nation like the US what it can and can't pursue whilst other nations not only have that same thing but have used it (US).  Country X telling country Y they can't have weapon Z, meanwhile country X has weapons X,Y and Z and uses them ruthlessly.

If we just put ourselves in Iran's shoes -  a regional belligerent like Israel un-officially has nukes and is backed by the worlds largest imperial belligerent, your neighbor Pakistan has nukes and is ideologically divergent from you (if Sunni-Shia divide flares up), your rival Saudi Arabia is a short hop across the gulf is aligned to your nuke stacked neighbor and views you as a competitor for energy markets and regional dominance, and is also backed by the words imperial power looking to maintain its primacy.

It would be absolutely idiotic to be in such a position and not pursue deterrence. Of course they tried pursuing this especially after the US inserted itself into the Middle East post 2000 in the war of terror knocking out country after country with think tanks clearly outlining their plans and ambitions.

Yet, they still signed up to the nuclear deal in 2015, unilaterally left by the US in 2018, after which they were prompted to enrich to sit at the threshold level. And now again, they get preemptively attacked during negotiations, and their main negotiator decapitated. 
 

Don't make it your nation's highest purpose to destroy another nation who is close allies with a superpower.

[Starlight321]

US fighter jets are being deployed in the near east from the US. It's highly likely the us will support Israel in bombing Iran into a regime change or even deploy troops.