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US and Israel launch strikes on Iran, as Trump says ‘massive’ campaign underway

340 pointsby lavptoday at 6:34 AM893 commentsview on HN

https://archive.ph/VqSqj


Comments

epolanskitoday at 11:28 AM

The president of peace btw.

I'm baffled at the lack of calls to boycott the Fifa world cup in US.

And at the double standards applied to Russians and Israelis in their wars of aggression.

I guess Israel can play the "October 7th" card at least which was an insane horror.

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udiorontoday at 1:03 PM

I believe this is related for Iran's decades old calls for "Death to America"/"Death to Israel".

sega_saitoday at 11:37 AM

The take home message from this is that the only way for any country to be secure is to have nuclear weapons.

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papaver-somnambtoday at 10:59 AM

I recall someone (name escapes me at the moment) defining WW3 as ignition in 5 flashpoints between belligerent groupings: - Eastern Africa esp. Sudan, which we all nearly universally ignore - Israel Iran - Russia and a neighbor which we know today is Ukraine - Pakistan Afghanistan India - China Taiwan Plus Plus

Attributes that distinguish WW3 from previous world wars were IIRC: Contained conflagration, short targeted exchanges, probability of contamination low, material possibility of nuclear escalation. Case in point: North Korea developed nukes without being invaded, and now that they have nukes, other countries are watching and seeing that NK won't be invaded. What lesson do those other countries draw? And what of a world in which many potential belligerents hold nukes? Hiroshima weeps.

I'd like to add an important attribute here: The revolution will be live-streamed, more-or-less. And essentially none of us will know the truth, even the reasons. I predict this fact will not distress many people, such is the state of humanity.

So to the 7 or so decades of stability we and our ancestors enjoyed, here's looking at you, going down me. But Brettonwoods serves the present the least of any time since its creation. Case in point, w.r.t. eastern Africa, the geopolitical bounds of those ~4 countries seems likely meld to a degree. If we are indeed heading into WW3, I expect the world map to be redrawn afterwards, and the only lessons learned is how to win better in future.

And if we are, while disgruntled old geriatrics go at each others throats via their youthful proxies, I greatly prefer the nukes rust in peace.

Reminds me of Blaise Pascal's quote: 'All human evil comes from a single cause, man's inability to sit still in a room.' Aspiration, you gotta take care man, it just might kill ya.

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Arun2009today at 12:17 PM

I am just befuddled by how much of this violence is directly motivated by religious concerns, both on the side of Iran and on the side of Israel and USA.

I have been reading on the topic of shunyata or emptiness in Mahayana Buddhism, and have been uncomfortably observing just how much of the artifacts we take to be real and substantial in the world are just "made up". They don't have an inherent reality of their own except what we attribute to them. And yet, made up stories can have very real consequences in terms human suffering.

It ought to be possible to cut through the layers of reifications and simply defuse much of the strife in the world. And yet, we continue to inflict misery on each other unnecessarily.

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0x600613today at 10:55 AM

2 countries with the best war technologies on earth must work together to have a war with embargod-country-for-decades. And those 2 counties are founder of Board of Peace.

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adverblytoday at 11:23 AM

Well hopefully this is short, minimally lethal, and leads to regime change for all those involved.

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niemandhiertoday at 11:23 AM

Previous conflicts between the involved parties were intense but also defined by constrain on both sides.

Israel did not mass bomb civilians, and Iranian agents did not commit sabotage against infrastructure on US soil.

I hope this pattern persists.

A hand full of determined Ukrainians managed to blow up North Stream, some people plunged part of Berlin into darkness for 2 weeks.

Power and data cables as well as pipelines are as vulnerable in the US, as they are here. Maybe even more so.

A regime that truly feared for its existence, might decide to escalate, since there is nothing to loose.

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yodsanklaitoday at 12:02 PM

Nothing like a war to boost your popularity just before the elections

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samrustoday at 1:01 PM

Regarding the protests in the preceding week, while the iranian people probably had valid problems with their government, its so pbvious the actual scenes we saw in the news were orchestrated to manufacture consent. Its barely hidden anymore.

If you see a sudden uptick in protests in a country the US/isreal see as an enemy, you can bet its probably just the step in the playbook preceding military action

HumblyTossedtoday at 12:43 PM

Needs a war to cancel the mid terms.

r721today at 7:58 AM

Feb 25:

>White House officials believe ‘the politics are a lot better’ if Israel strikes Iran first

>As the administration mulls military action in Iran, officials argue it’d be best if Israel makes the first move.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/25/white-house-politic...

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kibaetoday at 8:11 AM

There seems to be an uptick around 1am on Polymarket.

https://polymarket.com/event/us-strikes-iran-by

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alex_lowtoday at 11:57 AM

I'm surprised this has not been mentioned, for context:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_massacres

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riffrafftoday at 7:23 AM

well, they were one week away from a nuke, as usual.

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apexalphatoday at 9:31 AM

While I have no love for the Iranian regime I fear this will end up like the 'liberation' of Iraq: A massive power vacuum in an unstable Islamic regime.

What even is the plan here if the air assault fails? Boots on the ground? In Iran?

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coffinbirthtoday at 8:56 AM

At this point, no country in the world will ever again 'make a deal' with the US, because while pretending to negotiate with you they try to ram a knife into your back.

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karim79today at 10:05 AM

I can't help but think that all this shit is because Netanyahu really wants to put off more court hearings on his lame ass corruption charges. I really can't wait for him and his cronies (in Israel, and the West) to be brought to justice.

Without having to wait for the history books to do their thing.

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athrowaway3ztoday at 7:40 AM

I have to wonder how much of this is driven by Israel accounting for the risk of less favorable US relationship in the future.

Pre-emptive violence; not even justified with a narrative of escalating threat.

Bleak for anybody who knows their history.

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Aliabid94today at 6:53 AM

Gotta derail any peace talks!

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drcongotoday at 11:26 AM

Bored of Peace

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ivraatiemstoday at 7:38 AM

I was discussing this with a friend today. It just feels like there's no point to these actions.

Not in the sense of "I don't ideologically agree with our decision to do this," but in the sense of, "I do not see how this accomplishes any ideological or practical goal."

What are they trying for? Regime change in Iran? No more Iranian nuclear program? There barely was one before. Keeping Israel safe? It's been an open secret for years that Iran is not a real threat to Israel, because any action it took against Israel would be existential for Iran and its leadership.

A US president who vocally and repeatedly promised he would not start new conflicts keeps starting them, and there's not even a reason. It's infuriating. I have my partisan opinions, but that should not be a partisan statement! It's just disturbing!

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makingstuffstoday at 10:27 AM

I really do not even want to understand the mental gymnastics which one has to undertake to justify the actions of the US and Israel in recent years.

Nor do I even know how to begin to grasp the enablement displayed by Europe as a whole. People constantly cite China’s “human rights abuses” (which seem to pale in comparison to all this) and rightly so, but continue to enable this blood thirsty and power hungry tag team to indulge in flagrant abuses of international law and general morality.

This is a sad day for level headed and empathetic humans across the globe. At which point do we accept that WW3 began quite a while ago? Because it sure as shit did.

Edit: fully expect this to be downvoted to oblivion but it’s my truth.

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swingboytoday at 11:02 AM

A mere 8 months ago, Trump and his cronies were saying that Iran’s nuclear program was “totally obliterated” every chance they got.

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jeffhollontoday at 12:11 PM

Peace and profit.

upmindtoday at 10:10 AM

How did the US justify this?

lawgimeneztoday at 10:27 AM

USA can't stop engaging in wars no? Now food prices are gonna go up because gas prices will go up. Or all prices will go up.

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carlosbarazatoday at 8:22 AM

What are that pizza place google statistics?

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jackdoetoday at 12:28 PM

special operation

Simon_ORourketoday at 10:07 AM

Are all our foreign policy decisions now made in Tel Aviv to suit Israel?

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krembotoday at 9:20 AM

Even if you don't support US & IL standing in the frontlines against the terror regime, at least pray for the freedom of the people of Iran, 90m people held hostages by the regime. If you are pro-peace, do not be hypocrite, some wars are needed to defeat evil.

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apples_orangestoday at 12:34 PM

I hate that we apparently have to take sides when commenting ..

maxglutetoday at 9:38 AM

Interesting times intensifies. It's only February.

notenlishtoday at 10:25 AM

[delayed]

Devastatoday at 8:19 AM

Iran is a lesson to all: as soon as Israel or the US take a disliking to you you have to rush for nuclear weapons.

Iran has been the grown up in the room for well over a decade at this stage and it didn't matter one bit. You cannot appease Israel or the US because that don't want to be appeased, they want to bomb Iran into a lawless wasteland. They could have switched to a secular liberal democracy and it'd make no difference.

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throwaw12today at 11:33 AM

This war shows Hamas was resistance group and Israel was actual oppressor and terrorist.

Israel attacked Iran

Israel attacked Lebanon

Israel oppressed and kidnapped Palestinians

World is getting destroyed by couple hundred Israeli and US maniacs, by the way, all of whom are connected via Epstein

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmtoday at 11:47 AM

Nothing to do with nuclear weapons. They are trying to surround and isolate Turkey as the only other military heavyweight of the middle east.

Israel and the US have already shown their cards in Syria. It is not peace they are after, it is regional domination.

nomilktoday at 8:06 AM

Are there any accurate sources on how many Iranian citizens the Iran regime has killed in the past couple of months? (some sources suggest tens of thousands, but I wonder if it could be a 'WMDs' situation [lie to get support for a war]).

Trump said in the State of the Union [0]:

> in just over the past couple of months with the protests they've killed at least 32000 protestors

And just moments ago Trump says 'tens of thousands' [1]

Is this confirmed or conjecture?

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l-iErpskb8&t=1h21m20s

[1] https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/2027651077865157033

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csomartoday at 6:49 AM

Crypto going down while Gold going up (on XAUt) suggests the market thinks this war is not going to go necessarily to the US/Israel advantage.

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Sam6latetoday at 7:47 AM

They have chosen the weekend not to disturb the stock markets. They may pull that off when they get inside support as the corruption of the regime has made it unpopular with business class and the middle class. Trump may achieve another 'Venezuela' short war.

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blkstoday at 10:39 AM

So another war of aggression by Israel.

manyaomantoday at 10:15 AM

I take this as a confirmation that more "nuclear material" i.e. unpublished Epstein files still exist.

bdangubictoday at 7:43 AM

we sure dodged a bullet in 2024 elections and elected the right people to stop all these senseless wars that were one of the cornerstones of the election campaign

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komali2today at 9:19 AM

Ever since the ICE stuff I've been desperate to find a way to not pay my taxes - even if it means donating 2, 3x, hell 4x my tax bill to somewhere else. Obviously it's basically impossible to do this (especially if your income is all self employment income) outside of just spending every penny you earn on something that could be viably considered a business expense. So I'm wondering if I should just straight up stop working until I can relinquish my USA citizenship.

Spend down my savings and assets till I have almost nothing to exit tax, exit, and then start working again.

I don't want to fund the bombing of strangers I have no quarrel with.

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