Mr Trump Can't Shut This War Down........

Trump is saying he may send troops to invade Kharg Island. After the last US air attack on the island Iran is saying they have laid ground mines and surface to air missiles.
This will inevitably lead to US personnel being killed. Even Republicans ate against this.
Trump seems to making plans as he goes along. This is what happens when there is no articulated plan made with discussion with Congress or allies.

Allira

MayBee70

Oreo

foxie48 doesn’t seem to understand that the mullahs in charge in Iran are the problem.
Regime change from these radical so called religious leaders would be a step in the right direction.

I don’t see how slaughtering innocent people is the way to dealing with it.

I don't know the answer but far more Iranian people have been murdered by their own regime since the Revolution.

Saddam Hussein was slaughtering his own people which was one justification for the Iraq war. Which, in retrospect was the wrong thing to do.

Well what a mess.
"Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are lobbying for a decisive end to the war, through diplomatic or military means"
Washington Post

Why? Decisive means Iran must lose the war. Because if Trump walks away from the war now he potentially leaves the ME less stable than before he started the war and Iran thinking they have effectively won. As the Saudi's have invested billions in Kushner's investment fund, they have effectively "bought" Trump so I think he'll be keen to keep them sweet. This is the problem of having the POTUS more interested in his own wealth than the wealth and well being of his country's citizens!

"I don't know the answer but far more Iranian people have been murdered by their own regime since the Revolution."

Yes, and many more will be killed because of this poorly planned war. I want to see regime change in Iran but unless there is a properly organised and suitably armed opposition to the regime, it won't happen. This vile and repressive regime is, literally as I write this post, executing people who took part in the last uprising. As mentioned up thread, those in power do not suffer the consequences of war in the same way as the ordinary Iranian. I cannot think of one single example of when the US has managed to effect a regime change that has not resulted in ordinary citizens living more difficult and dangerous lives and my fear is that this latest escapade by Trump will just leave Iranians in a far worse situation than they were before he decided to kill those in power.

MayBee70

Oreo

foxie48 doesn’t seem to understand that the mullahs in charge in Iran are the problem.
Regime change from these radical so called religious leaders would be a step in the right direction.

I don’t see how slaughtering innocent people is the way to dealing with it.

I don't know the answer but far more Iranian people have been murdered by their own regime since the Revolution.

Russia has been and is, behind a lot of things imo. While the west has been worried about their nuclear weapons they’ve been using weapons of a different kind. And China use soft power. I think they both play the west like puppets.

There's an interesting piece on CNN this morning which says that Trump has talked about invading Kharg Island since 1988, just like he talked about Tariffs. Only a very short but worth looking at. I have a horrible feeling that this talk of an end to the war is just a smoke screen.
edition.cnn.com/2026/03/26/politics/video/kharg-island-trump-iran-vrtc-digvid

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/23/bets-us-iran-ceasefire-show-signs-of-insider-knowledge-say-experts-polymarket

This piece on insider trading is very interesting.

AGAA4

John Healey, defence minister, on BBC this morning has said that Russia is trying to sneak oil through our waters.
Russia has been training Iranians and sharing vital intelligence with them before this war began.
Healey said Russia has a hidden hand in this war.
Why can't Trump see that his great pal Putin is his enemy.

Because he is just a useful idiot to any old rogue. And if he or his family are promised to make a fast buck he doesn’t care if he has to sup with the devil.

John Healey, defence minister, on BBC this morning has said that Russia is trying to sneak oil through our waters.
Russia has been training Iranians and sharing vital intelligence with them before this war began.
Healey said Russia has a hidden hand in this war.
Why can't Trump see that his great pal Putin is his enemy.

David49

Iran is just like any other totalitarian state the elite who hold the power hold the wealth and enjoy a luxurious lifestyle.
I was shockedl it was revealed that Ayatollah Khameni's family had billions stashed away and property in London.

We thought they were at least modest religious devotees, they are not, they're just power hungry despots

I’m not sure that Islam sees any virtue in poverty and abstinence. Is it a feature of any other religion apart from Christianity ?

Are there any regimes in the world where the leader and their elites don’t live in luxury regardless of the conditions of the populace and the state of the country’s economy?

Not sure how this works, perhaps our USA GNs will help,
after the midterms, will Trump no longer 'be on the ballot' as he can't go for a third term?

Iran is just like any other totalitarian state the elite who hold the power hold the wealth and enjoy a luxurious lifestyle.
I was shockedl it was revealed that Ayatollah Khameni's family had billions stashed away and property in London.

We thought they were at least modest religious devotees, they are not, they're just power hungry despots

Whatever the policies in the UK I think the Iranian regime will see the country as their enemy and bracket it with the US. The UK will definitely be a target unfortunately. Plenty of internal supporters there,too.

1400 to date, 200 were children.

Oreo

foxie48 doesn’t seem to understand that the mullahs in charge in Iran are the problem.
Regime change from these radical so called religious leaders would be a step in the right direction.

I don’t see how slaughtering innocent people is the way to dealing with it.

Listening to and reading lots of commentators.

It doesn’t look good does it?

It feels a bit like covid at present, when we read and watched other countries trying to grapple with the enormous problems it brought with it, but for a while we remained relatively untouched until all hell was let loose.

That’s what I’m worried about.

fancythat

^Iran does not accept the right of Israel to exist^

Ah. Didnt know that.
That explains a great deal.

Fancythat
I don’t know how you missed the fact that Iran want Israel wiped off the face of the earth but this article explains how and why.

www.brookings.edu/articles/irans-revolution-40-years-on-israels-reverse-periphery-doctrine/

Allira

The Mullahs (Shias) are in charge in Iran.
They are politicised, not just religious leaders.

Exactly!

foxie48 doesn’t seem to understand that the mullahs in charge in Iran are the problem.
Regime change from these radical so called religious leaders would be a step in the right direction.

There are "mullahs" in many countries and they can be Shia or Sunni, even Jewish. It's a general term not an accurate description of the Iranian regime and as I have already said most mullahs would not subscribe to the political system which has been imposed on the Iranians.

My understanding is in 1948, Iran supported the state of Israel. After the Islamic revolution in 1979 the position changed.
I have friends who lived well in Persia in the seventies. It was s different, liberal country

The Mullahs (Shias) are in charge in Iran.
They are politicised, not just religious leaders.

No it's not "mullahs" that are the problem, Mullahs are not the same as extremists and the Iranian regime is an extremist regime which does not adhere to Islamic theology or law, whereas Mullahs do. I would never say that Jews are the problem in Israel. It is the extremist Ultra - Orthodox Jews who are displacing Palestinians from their lawful homes not Jews that I see as a problem. I dislike this stereotyping of groups of people. It's lazy at best and potentially racist at worst. The Iranian regime is a cruel undemocratic authoritarian regime, just like the Taliban and most "mullahs" would find their behaviour and politics a complete anathema.

David49

TBH, I would also ask why shouldn't it be allowed nuclear arms when other equally nasty countries have them?

The only country in the region with nuclear weapons is Israel, they have proved not to be a threat to others, but has been continually attacked by Iranian sponsored terrorists.

Iran does not accept the right of Israel to exist and has sworn to destroy it, the threat that a nuclear armed Iran might just do that, is clear to me.

All it would take is for Iran to accept Israel's right to exist and agree to a verified end to the nuclear programme

If they had reasonable leaders, a change of regime to non religious leaders and true democracy then the ME could be a very different place.