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Conflict in the Middle East

US and Israel strike Iran. (title edited by MNHQ at request of the OP)

1000 replies

Twiglets1 · 28/02/2026 06:46

Israel attacked Iran early on Saturday morning, saying it had “launched a pre-emptive strike against Iran to remove threats to the state of Israel,” according to a military spokesman.

Israel closed its airspace and declared a state of emergency, in anticipation of
Iranian drone and missile strikes in response.

Explosions were heard in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian media reported.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/israel-launches-attack-on-iran-as-explosions-heard-in-tehran

Israel launches attack on Iran as explosions heard in Tehran

Blasts heard in Tehran as Israel declares state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile strikes

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/israel-launches-attack-on-iran-as-explosions-heard-in-tehran

OP posts:
Thread gallery
44
HappyFace2025 · 07/03/2026 21:00

HappyFace2025 · 07/03/2026 20:05

You missed my irony.

Edited

And it's being reported live just now that debris from a drone has hit a Dubai skyscraper @Stirabout

KatiePricesKnickers · 07/03/2026 21:07
  • @Stirabout ”However, Iran's foreign minister says the country's "openness to de-escalation" has been "almost immediately killed" by Donald Trump”

They only talk de-escalation because they are marked men, are losing rapidly, and want to try and retain their power, their money and their lives.
They are not men of peace.

Iran continues attacks on Gulf states as UAE officials say Dubai resident killed by falling shrapnel - follow live

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all reported attacks on Saturday despite Iran's president saying Tehran would not strike "unless attacked first".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ceqvwrydzpqt?post=asset%3A4c7b6fe6-fda6-4960-94e7-cddb013fc414#post

mids2019 · 07/03/2026 21:09

Irans leadership is hopelessly divided now and it is obvious the president doesn't speak for the nation. Effectively there has been an internal military coup on my opinion as the political leadership is decimated.

Very telling is the time it is taking for Iran to bury its supreme leader in a very religious country. It must give the people of Iran hope that the state cannot organise this funeral and the sheet humiliation of the ayatollah having a non public burial will be immense and cause a lot of people to view this maybe as the first sign of the regime cracking.

Ihatetomatoes · 07/03/2026 21:14

SpaceRaccoon · 07/03/2026 20:18

And then promptly hit a residential tower block in Dubai...

Liars. Much like their proxy terrorist organisations, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Stirabout · 07/03/2026 21:27

KatiePricesKnickers · 07/03/2026 21:07

  • @Stirabout ”However, Iran's foreign minister says the country's "openness to de-escalation" has been "almost immediately killed" by Donald Trump”

They only talk de-escalation because they are marked men, are losing rapidly, and want to try and retain their power, their money and their lives.
They are not men of peace.

Yes
made the last post because there was a second announcement

It still looks like Iran will attack whilst military bases and airspace are made available to the US and Israel

Which is exactly what Iran have been doing from the start

No idea what the US did at that point in time to kill the idea
I haven’t been tracking the US minute by minute
but
Maybe it was this comment from Trump

‘On Saturday morning, Trump had warned that “today Iran will be hit very hard" in comments on his Truth Social website, noting an apology by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier in the day to neighbouring nations over Tehran’s attacks. Trump added that "areas and groups of people" in Iran are "under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death’
euro news

IrishSelkie · 07/03/2026 21:35

It was also reported that Hegseth, Head of the US Department of War said today that strikes were "about to surge dramatically", referring to "more fighter squadrons, more defensive capabilities and more bomber pulses more frequently" in the Manchester Evening News.

JaneJeffer · 07/03/2026 22:53

Hegseth is insane. He said the only ones who need to worry right now are Iranians that think they’re going to live.

Stirabout · 07/03/2026 23:00

JaneJeffer · 07/03/2026 22:53

Hegseth is insane. He said the only ones who need to worry right now are Iranians that think they’re going to live.

Trumps really insane
and Netanyahu is on a mission to destroy everything in the country

all over again !

wonder if they’re making extra gold statues

Stirabout · 07/03/2026 23:51

JaneJeffer · 07/03/2026 22:53

Hegseth is insane. He said the only ones who need to worry right now are Iranians that think they’re going to live.

Your post reminded me of this article in The Guardian last October

The president is unhinged’: Trump’s online behaviour grows increasingly odd
This article is more than 4 months old
Adam Gabbattin New York

The US president’s recent behavior is strange to many, from reposting a false AI video of himself to confusing comments during press conferences

Sun 5 Oct 2025 15.00 BST

To many observers, both in the US and abroad, Donald Trump has been behaving strangely recently. Especially online.

As a government shutdown loomed in the US last week, the president posted an AI video which depicted Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black House minority leader, wearing a sombrero and exaggerated moustache, with mariachi music playing in the background.

Hispanic groups criticized Trump’s posts as “racist”, “dangerous” and “reprehensible”, but Trump doubled down, posting a new video which showed himself wearing a sombrero and playing the guitar behind a rendering of Jeffries.

It wasn’t the only situation where Trump’s behavior has seemed unusual. Last weekend Trump reposted to Truth Social an AI-generated fake video which promoted “med bed hospitals”. Trump has reposted AI content before, but the difference was that this video showed an AI version of himself speaking.

“Every American will soon receive their own med bed card,” the AI rendering of Trump, apparently seated in the Oval Office, said. “With it, you’ll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals led by the top doctors in the nation, equipped with the most advanced technology in the world.”
Setting aside the fact that the idea of “med beds” is a rightwing conspiracy theory – one version of the theory posits that the government and/or a group of wealthy Americans have access to medical bed-like devices that can cure almost every illness, but are withholding the technology – Trump’s post prompted a number of questions.

Did Trump, 79, believe that the video really showed him announcing med bed hospitals? Does the president think he gave a speech about med beds at the White House? Does he believe that his government is about to send “med bed cards” to every US citizen?
The post was ultimately deleted, but it remains baffling, and the White House’s response did little to allay the confusion.
“I think the president saw the video and posted it, and then took it down,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said when asked about the video on Wednesday.
“And he has the right to do that. It’s his social media. He’s incredibly transparent, as you all know. You hear from him directly on social media. He likes to share memes, he likes to share videos, he likes to repost things that he sees other people post on social media as well and I think it’s quite refreshing that we have a president who is so open and honest.”

Leavitt’s words did little to explain Trump’s thinking as to why he might have posted the fake video.

But, in truth, it was only the most recent example of increasingly odd behaviour from Trump, who has – like his predecessor Joe Biden – been subject to questions over his mental acuity in recent months.

In a recent speech at the White House where Trump claimed – against most existing evidence – that Tylenol could contribute to autism if women take it during pregnancy, Trump confusingly spoke of “certain elements of genius that can be given to a baby”.
Announcing that 13 grants would be awarded to investigate autism, Trump added: “They have to move quickly. They, they – when the alternative is that nothing bad can happen, let’s do it now. I was just saying to Bobby [health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr] and the group, let’s do it now. Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen.”

A week earlier, during a press conference with British prime minister Keir Starmer, Trump confused Albania with Armenia when discussing a peace deal struck between Armenia and Azerbaijan – a mistake Trump also made during an appearance on Fox News.
Back in the social media world, on Sunday Trump wrote on Truth Socialthat he had “been briefed” on a shooting at a Mormon church in Michigan which killed four people. “The Trump Administration will keep the Public posted, as we always do,” Trump wrote.

He did indeed post again. But it was not an update on the still unfolding tragedy in Michigan. Instead, three hours later, he shared a video which showed an array of gold fixtures and fittings.
“Some of the highest quality 24 Karat Gold used in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room of the White House. Foreign Leaders, and everyone else, ‘freak out’ when they see the quality and beauty. Best Oval Office ever, in terms of success and look!!! President DJT,” he wrote.

He did not comment again that day on the Michigan shooting, although he did complain about the new NFL kickoff rule.

Setting aside Trump’s confusing online behaviour, the president’s in-person appearances have also become odd.

On Tuesday, Trump summoned the country’s top military commanders to a meeting in Virginia. , Trump, sounding drained, touted his alleged successes and lauded the US bombing of an Iran nuclear facility – something which may have violatedinternational law – before saying:
“America is respected again as a country.
We were not respected with Biden. They looked at him falling down stairs every day.
Every day, the guy’s falling down stairs.”
Trump continued: “I said: ‘It’s not our president. We can’t have it.’ I’m very careful, you know, when I walk downstairs for – like I’m on stairs, like these stairs, I’m very – I walk very slowly. Nobody has to set a record, just try not to fall because it doesn’t work out well. A few of our presidents have fallen and it became a part of their legacy.
“We don’t want that. Need to walk nice and easy. You not have – you don’t have to set any record. Be cool, be cool when you walk down, but don’t, don’t bop down the stairs. That’s the one thing with Obama, I had zero respect for him as a president, but he would bop down those stairs, I’ve never seen – da da da da da da, bop, bop, bop, he’d go down the stairs, wouldn’t hold on. I said, it’s great, I don’t want to do it. I guess I could do it, but eventually bad things are going to happen and it only takes once, but he did a lousy job as president.”

In the same speech, Trump claimed that cities including San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles are “very unsafe places and we’re going to straighten them out one by one”. The president then casually mentioned that he had told Pete Hegseth, the newly-annointed secretary of war, that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military”.
The address prompted immediate concern, including from former military members.

Barry McCaffrey, a retired general, told MSNBC that Trump’s performance was “one of the most bizarre, unsettling events I’ve ever encountered”.
“The president sounded incoherent, exhausted, rabidly partisan, at times stupid, meandering, couldn’t hold a thought together,” McCaffrey said.

Trump’s speech was enough for Madeleine Dean, a Democratic congresswoman from Pennsylvania, to confront the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, in Washington on Wednesday, although Johnson appeared unconcerned.
The president is unhinged. He is unwell,” Dean told Johnson, in an encounter filmed by journalists.
“Well a lot of folks on your side are too,” Johnson responded.

Wow
and now this person has helped start a war !!!

Squirrelandnuts · 08/03/2026 00:33

BunfightBetty · 04/03/2026 17:18

If the US were to run low on patriots/interceptor missiles, the danger for Iran could be that the US might be more likely to simply take a carpet bombing approach to wiping out Iran’s capacity to keep firing off drones and missiles in the first place. Rather than more strategic, targeted operations like we’ve seen when they took out Khameini.

And how does this help the Iranians that live there?

Already, the amount of housing, hospitals and other infrastructure that have been destroyed seems ridiculous, considering they have already killed the Ayatollah.

You can't bomb your way to peace, without the consenting of live Iranian population, who have not even had the opportunity to see proper justice done.

The Iranian people are they ones who know who are the Morality Police, enforcers and Government forces, not the Americans, Israelis or any other country for that matter.

It is the Iranians who have to live with the aftermath of the US and Israel intervention aggressive actions upon various cities and towns. If all the teachers, doctors, even law officers and police are killed, how are they meant to rebuild their society. Which by the way is very well educated including the girls and women.

To crown it all, Trump wants to decide who rules them as well, install a puppet government. That didn't work in Afghanistan, and it definitely won't work in Iran.

Squirrelandnuts · 08/03/2026 01:04

MistressoftheDarkSide · 04/03/2026 17:13

Isn't it a sad indictment of our times though, when you have the protagonists bragging about how they can fight wars indefinitely, yet don't invest in infrastructure in peace times.... unlimited funds for death and destruction, but not for addressing domestic inequality or investment.... just sayin.....

So right. As well as, the war-mongers safe and afar from any action, short/long-term consequences.

They have killed, without trying the Ayatollal and his upper ranks, for their crimes against the Iranian people. So, time to stop attacking, and negotiate with the those left in charge to establish some kind of transition.

We are meant to be civilised human beings with laws and courts. A fair Iranian democracy can not be built, justice is not given a chance, that means working to find a way to transfer the government either to the Opposition in the interim.

Identifying those high-ranking in various departments including the Morality police in the previous one, and requiring them to admit to their part, choose to work towards Democracy, or face justice, if guilty of any crimes against the people.

Achieving democracy will be a long process, it can'tjust be imposed. Killing and just jailing people is not the best foundation, considering the Theocracy has been in power for over 30yrs. They will almost certainly need to focus on Reconciliation and a new Constitution, as to survive in countries like these you have toe the line to a point. Certain people will need to be tried etc.

You need people to be able to return to their homes, schools and work to enable this. So, this delibrate destroying of city infrastructure, housing, roads etc ostensibly to seek out the Guards is going to backfire, when people become refugees in their own country. Or elsewhere as a result of a civil war, from a power vacuum or struggle, should the wrong person be placed in power by the West, or just by the Iranians who live abroad.

Twiglets1 · 08/03/2026 05:18

mids2019 · 07/03/2026 21:09

Irans leadership is hopelessly divided now and it is obvious the president doesn't speak for the nation. Effectively there has been an internal military coup on my opinion as the political leadership is decimated.

Very telling is the time it is taking for Iran to bury its supreme leader in a very religious country. It must give the people of Iran hope that the state cannot organise this funeral and the sheet humiliation of the ayatollah having a non public burial will be immense and cause a lot of people to view this maybe as the first sign of the regime cracking.

Agree about the lack of funeral for the Ayatollah.

Shortly after he was killed I read that he must be buried very quickly according to religious custom. The first funeral attempt was postponed due to heavy bombing in Iran. As far as I know, he still hasn't been buried (it certainly hasn't been a public burial if he has). It's another sign that the regime is seriously out of control that they haven't even been able to organise this.

OP posts:
QuiteUnbelievable · 08/03/2026 06:28

I think the time has gone for a public burial and people wailing under gun point.
They have probably just done it.

Twiglets1 · 08/03/2026 06:59

QuiteUnbelievable · 08/03/2026 06:28

I think the time has gone for a public burial and people wailing under gun point.
They have probably just done it.

Doubt it as they will want a spectacle. Article dated March 6th.

The crowd problem

Officials also appear concerned about turnout. State television acknowledged that authorities were attempting to bus supporters in from other cities to produce what it described as “a funeral attended by millions.”

The leadership is keen to replicate the massive crowds that gathered for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. Official figures at the time claimed 10 million mourners, though foreign journalists estimated between two and four million. Replicating even a fraction of that turnout now—amid war and public discontent—appears uncertain.

Transporting large crowds between Tehran, Qom and Mashhad for a multi-city mourning procession adds further complications.

Khamenei’s supporters, including those backing his son as a potential successor, are seeking a large and symbolic display of loyalty when and if a new leader is announced.

Some officials and analysts say that effort to stage a carefully managed spectacle may help explain why the funeral has been repeatedly delayed over the past two days.

www.iranintl.com/en/202603057832

OP posts:
SpaceRaccoon · 08/03/2026 07:30

There are clearly large internal schisms in Iran now, hence the mixed messages re bombing neighbouring countries.

Twiglets1 · 08/03/2026 07:38

SpaceRaccoon · 08/03/2026 07:30

There are clearly large internal schisms in Iran now, hence the mixed messages re bombing neighbouring countries.

Agreed. More drone attacks across the Gulf overnight including on Kuwait.

OP posts:
SpaceRaccoon · 08/03/2026 07:40

Twiglets1 · 08/03/2026 07:38

Agreed. More drone attacks across the Gulf overnight including on Kuwait.

They hit a water desalinisation plant in Bahrain as well.

SpaceRaccoon · 08/03/2026 07:42

"On Saturday the president apologised to neighbouring Gulf countries hosting US military bases for attacks on their territory.
However, after the statement provoked a storm inside the country and the military appeared to contradict him, Pezeshkian said his remarks were “misinterpreted by the enemy that seeks to sow division with neighbours”."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/08/middle-east-crisis-live-china-warns-world-cannot-return-to-law-of-the-jungle-trump-says-iran-being-decimated?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-69ad0a418f08ef977b471d2f#block-69ad0a418f08ef977b471d2f

And then goes on to say that they're allowed to bomb neighbouring countries, but these countries are not to retaliate.

Middle East crisis live: Trump says Iran being ‘decimated’ as Gulf states hit with wave of strikes

Reports of explosions in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar as smoke billows above Tehran

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/08/middle-east-crisis-live-china-warns-world-cannot-return-to-law-of-the-jungle-trump-says-iran-being-decimated?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-69ad0a418f08ef977b471d2f#block-69ad0a418f08ef977b471d2f

EsmaCannonball · 08/03/2026 07:55

I can understand why Iranian dissidents are living in the UK but, looking at the pro-regime protests in London, I can't understand why so many Ayatollah-loving Muslims are living here. Surely Iran was their dream state? One might think that spreading fundamentalist Islam was more important than living under it.

EasternStandard · 08/03/2026 08:21

Stirabout · 07/03/2026 19:47

Regime and their military are in agreement according to statements made by both in news today

They will only attack their neighbours if attacked from their first

They are basically saying stop allowing your bases to be used to bomb Iran and you won’t be bombed. Which was fairly obvious from the beginning and why Starmer hasn’t allowed it

what other factions are doing is 🤷‍♀️

Edited

Can you list which bases were being used and then where was struck by Iran?

I don’t think they match up

Ihatetomatoes · 08/03/2026 09:09

SpaceRaccoon · 08/03/2026 07:40

They hit a water desalinisation plant in Bahrain as well.

That causes more problems than many realise.

SpaceRaccoon · 08/03/2026 09:11

Ihatetomatoes · 08/03/2026 09:09

That causes more problems than many realise.

Potentially catastrophic. Desalinisation is the only reason the Gulf countries can support their comparatively large populations. There simply are not enough natural water sources.

Ihatetomatoes · 08/03/2026 09:11

EsmaCannonball · 08/03/2026 07:55

I can understand why Iranian dissidents are living in the UK but, looking at the pro-regime protests in London, I can't understand why so many Ayatollah-loving Muslims are living here. Surely Iran was their dream state? One might think that spreading fundamentalist Islam was more important than living under it.

If they loved him so much why on earth do they want to leave his 'supreme leadership'. Indeed, I agree, to spread that awful extreme crap here.

Hyacinthbucketsgarden · 08/03/2026 09:15

SpaceRaccoon · 07/03/2026 20:18

And then promptly hit a residential tower block in Dubai...

The info I have is this - although the United Arab Emirates (UAE) does not publicly host a declared US military base in Dubai, the country plays an important role in supporting American military operations in the region.

Iran targeted key locations in Dubai, including Jebel Ali Port, Burj Al Arab hotel, Dubai International Airport, Palm Jumeirah These places are not military bases. However, they are seen as strategically important.

Dubai has the "Iron Dome " system invented by Israel so I don't know why a tower block was hit.
Also, sadly, a civilian was hit and killed by shrapnel falling to earth after a missile intercept yesterday.

FloralDeerPattern · 08/03/2026 09:25

SpaceRaccoon · 08/03/2026 07:40

They hit a water desalinisation plant in Bahrain as well.

I'd imagine that that was in retaliation for the desalination plant that the US destroyed in Iran leaving 30 villages without water. After that strike Iran said that the US were making a grave mistake destroying civillian infrastructure and that the US were setting the precedent for this. Iran claims that the attack on their desalination came from US forces in Bahrain.

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