@revelette3,
revelette3 wrote:
We'll see down the line how this plays out. For all our sakes, innocents over in region and us the US, I hope more diplomatic means are deployed, but given the reactions thus far, I admit, I am scared for the long haul.
The world is indeed a dangerous place and your concerns are well-merited. Iran has been a self-declared enemy of the United States ever since the Radical Islamist government revolution that displaced the Shah four decades ago, seized our embassy along with about 50 staff members who were held hostage for well over a year. Under Islamist rule Iran became, and remains, the chief organizer and director of terrorist operations throughout the Middle East. Iranian forces were shooting up ships entering and leaving the Persian throughout the early 1980s - that stopped when Under President Reagan we took forceful action against them.
Now after Iran's efforts to destabilize Yemen, Lebanon and Syria, it finds itself with far more enemies than friends in the region. Our economic sanctions on Iran have so far cut off almost all of its foreign income from the export of petroleum and have severely crippled its economy. This has reignited the popular unrest within Iran that emerged early in Obama's term as president and which he unfortunately ignored. Now it is reemerging with anti regime demonstrations across the country - demonstrations that were suppressed with about 1,200 civilian deaths inflicted by the Same Quds Force whose commander we just killed.
My point is the situation with Iran has been dangerous for a long time, and it is no more so now. Indeed, given the serious economic and political issues its regime faces now, Iran's ability to harm our interests is far less than it has been in several decades.
