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Schismatic Schizo's avatar

Slightly sensationalistic but I agree overall. The reason Israel attacked the consulate was to test the waters and see how America would react—basically to see if they could count on their support. America revealed that they were not at all comfortable with escalating, and basically told Israel that they would be on their own if they went down this path.

At the same time, the Americans had to negotiate an Iranian response that would maintain the Iranian domestic credibility without causing Israel to overreact too dramatically. And this is exactly what happened. Iranian military officials met with the CIA to determine the magnitude of their response, with the parameter being no civilian casualties.

Contrary to neocon propaganda, Iran is actually a very cautious state and it desperately wants to avoid an all out war too, so they were content to not go full TKD on Israel.

After the Iranian response, the ball was back in Israel’s court, and the Americans were hoping that they wouldn’t respond. But they did, and even though it seems like actual damage was minimal, now Iran will be forced to respond in turn.

So basically Israel kicked off a game of chicken in a bid to get the U.S. to step up its involvement in the Middle East, but it backfired and now both Israel and Iran will both be stuck escalating while neither of them really want too. But, their credibility will be at stake if one of them decides not to respond. This could become a very awkward situation where Israel and Iran just fire missiles at each other once a week that don’t really have a military effect but just to keep up appearances. But Israel is clearly the more erratic actor in this case, so if anyone will escalate, it will be Israel, and if anyone backs down, it will be Iran.

One final note, Israel doesn’t really have the capability to nuke the U.S., so if you’re American you’ll probably be fine if they unleash the Samson Option.

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The Goofus Knight's avatar

How long is Israel expected to tolerate a regime constantly stirring up terror organizations with the express purpose of the genocide of the Israeli people? Iran fucked around, now they find out.

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