That's how they do it these days.

off Israel. They'll be needed to defend against Iranian retaliation.

China and Russia will voice disgust. Some in the Middle East will voice disgust but the reality is that they are tired of Iran and the disruption in the region.

Iran won’t last a week. I don’t even see it driving oil prices crazy because Iran has no ability to take and hold the straits.

In summary, Iran has no true ally to help. If the US takes action they will be done in short order.

All they need to do is sink some of their own ships, drop some mines, and launch missiles at commercial ships to cause complete havoc

Who gets the majority of their oil from the Persian Gulf

They sent waves of child soldiers during the Iraq-Iran war when they were losing.

I’ve been down those straits. Iran is a thorn in the side of the entire region. They have 1980’s technology. If they try and drop mines they’ll lose their navy in a day. If they launch missiles into the straights, they’ll lose their shore batteries in a day. Saudi will not support nor will Qatar. Do you know how many ships would need to be sank to impede traffic?

How many commercial ships getting hit before they won't go through? It would only take a couple.

At that point the regime will have nothing to lose anyway.

There’s no magic bullet to overcome the US military for Iran. If they lay mines, they’ll lose their navy including small speedboats and the straights will be cleared in days. That’s it. If they lay mines it will disrupt shipping for a short period. Irans navy would not last 24 hours. The waters off Iran will be flooded with US assets. They won’t be able to do much.

Last edited Thu Feb 19, 2026, 02:39 PM - Edit history (1)

Where they were unable to shoot down a single US or Israeli bomber

And regime change is very unlikely to be accomplished through isolated aerial attacks.

The "isolated" descriptor was referring to the fact they were just bombings and not the type and scale of attacks you would see during an actual war, nor were they targeted in such a way.

Do you really think a regime change war in the Middle East is going to be a walk in the park?

They were exactly that kind of attacks, suppression of air defenses, command & control attacks, elimination of long range missile assets etc.

The US doing it Vs the IDF will be X10 IMO....and if they take out all the top leadership they can find and suppress the security apparatus I think the Iranian's will do the rest, they are fed up with the Mullahs & hate them.

it's larger than Iraq's, and we saw what that turned into.

We knock enough of the security forces off their feet and the Iranians will take over.

Some revolutions require external help, the US would not have kicked the British out without the French help

but it doesn't seem to be based on any extensive knowledge of Iran

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/the-day-after-khamenei-irans-liberation-will-begin-as-an-irgc-power-struggle

Many imagine the day after Ali Khamenei as a moment of sudden liberation: Iranians shaking off the mullahs and deciding their own destiny. The likelier opening act is far less romantic.

The immediate aftermath will probably look less like a velvet revolution and more like the opening round of an insider power struggle—staged and refereed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its allies. The institutions that have grown strongest under Khamenei are not parliaments, parties, or independent courts, but the security state and its sprawling economic empire. Those are the actors best positioned to inherit the republic he leaves behind.

We bombed Iraq multiple times before going to war against them and we were even enforcing a no-fly zone within their country.

Are you still okay with going to war if it involves American boots on the ground in Iran?

Last edited Thu Feb 19, 2026, 06:22 PM - Edit history (1)

There will be no repercussions. No refugees. No disruption to shipping. Why, it will be a cakewalk...Easy-peezy.

China and Russia will just get oil from somewhere else....maybe Venezuela. They will have absolutely no problem, whatsoever, with the United States controlling a vast region of the world's material supplies.

Why, they might even think the "regime change" is so "easy", China might have a go at Taiwan, and Russia can take a run on Poland.

Europe going to sit back and allow the USA and Israel to control what goes in and out of the Persian Gulf? That's right....Europe is our allie, right?

Ask the MAGAts, I am sure they will tell you that Europe has "no interest" in the Middle East.

What about Muslims around the world? Africa? Why, those people all all backwards anyway, right? Surely Africa has "no interest" in the Middle East.

If this works, and "takes about a week" to wrap it all up, maybe we'll take another run at Afghanistan.

They are out. I think China will never engage either. They have not fought since Korea and are completely outmatched by the US. They also have no way to project power.

Iran is on its own. If they are just destroying assets, it’s in and out. Bombs and missiles.


I just don’t see Iran coming out ahead. They can still refuse a nuclear deal, and the US would never want to land troops. But it just puts Iran further backward in the world. The people don’t want to be poor versus the rest of the Middle East, and the other countries don’t like the conflict that Iran brings.

No one is saying that there is anything positive about the Iranian regime. I won't shed a single tear when the religious fanatics that are in power in Iran are gone. I will miss them, about as much as I'll miss our own religious fanatics here in MAGAt 'MuriKKKa.

This entire sabre-rattling bullshit, reminds me of an important lesson we all should learn:

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should"

I spent 30 years in the United States Navy. I have said before that the United States military, with the support of NATO, could turn the entire planet into a "no-fly zone" in about a week if we wanted to. How's that relationship with NATO going?

It is silly, stupid and short-sighted to suggest that ANY of this shit is "easy". It's DANGEROUS to not anticipate the repercussions.

We wiped out the Iraqi and Afghanistan defense forces in about a week.

We bombed the absolute fuck out of North Korea and Vietnam.

Any of those "last more than a week"?

JFC! We militarily kidnapped the leader of Venezuela. That took about 2 hours. Think that's it? Think that's the last we'll hear from Venezuela, or South America?

Breaking things is easy.

Donnie Dipshit wants to bomb Iran, not because he gives one fuck about the "people" of Iran, but because he can.

If he really gave a damn about "regional stability", he'd be standing strong with Ukraine, instead of being Putin's sock-puppet.

Using the blood and treasure of America is one of the most serious and gravest decisions we can ever make.

Forgive me for doubting that Donnie Dipshit and Whiskey Pete understand that.

Can we bomb the shit out of Iran? Sure.
Should we bomb the shit out of Iran? I think we need Congress to weigh in.

That's what the Constitution requires...I mean...if you still believe it's relevant.

Iran would last days. No…there people largely don’t support their government. Iran new technology is literally ours from the 80’s and old Russia technology.
Russia can’t project power, they no longer have the ability to move their armies to the fight. They also have depleted their fighting age men in Ukraine.

Iran is on its own.

Now. I'm not sure that it won't be NATO joining to oppose Russia and the US.

If he's NOT aligning us with Russia, I would gladly welcome any demonstration that he isn't.

You're the one that is arm-chairing how "easy" and short it will be to destroy Iran. Any thoughts on what comes after?, Or are you in the "nuke 'em all, let God sort it out" faction?

“I just don’t see Iran coming out ahead. They can still refuse a nuclear deal, and the US would never want to land troops. But it just puts Iran further backward in the world.”

I’ve worked extensively in the region. I’ve never heard a good word said about Irans government from within other countries in the region nor Iranians working in other countries. Iran will be on its own. The Iranian people would overthrow the government but they were disarmed long ago and are killed for protesting.

I would never advocate US troops on the ground anywhere. But at the end of the day, Iran uses its money to fund terrorism in the region and the other countries are tired of it. They’d fund more terrorism actively against the US beyond cyber attacks if they could reach us easily. If the government is weakened enough to be overthrown by the people or weakened so that they do away with their nuclear program then great. A nuclear Iran is a global disaster waiting to happen. The government is radical and preach death to the US. Death to Israel. There is not a good soft negotiating tactic when they preach your death as a religion.

Iran will refuse a nuclear deal most likely and the chips land where they do. There will not be troops landed and I don’t advocate any of that. My point and belief is that Iran is a paper tiger and is a relatively weak opponent. The same weapons systems were used in Venezuela that didn’t do a thing.

...already have the "Mission Accomplished" banner already picked out.

We have a lot of Americans that are heroic with other people's blood"