Dukasaur wrote: I was thinking about all the hundreds of thousands being destroyed in Middle Eastern violence ever since Trump tore up the peace agreement with Iran in 2018, an action he has now doubled-down on by encouraging Nutty Yahoo to escalate the war. Also indisputable.
Sorry Duk, this is disputable.
Iran was approaching weapons grade uranium, and this is not said by only the US or Israel.
The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said that as of Feb. 8, Iran has 274.8 kilograms (605.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%. That’s an increase of 92.5 kilograms (203.9 pounds) since the IAEA’s last report in November.
That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
A report in November 2024 put the stockpile at 182.3 kilograms (401.9 pounds). It had 164.7 kilograms (363.1 pounds) last August.
“The significantly increased production and accumulation of high enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear weapon State to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern,” the confidential report stated. According to the IAEA, approximately 42 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium is theoretically enough to produce one atomic bomb, if enriched further to 90%.
The IAEA also estimated in its quarterly report that as of Feb. 8, Iran’s overall stockpile of enriched uranium stands at 8,294.4 kilograms (18,286 pounds), which represents an increase of 1,690.0 kilograms (3725.8 pounds) since the last report in November. (...)
Iran has maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, but IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has previously warned that Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make “several” nuclear bombs if it chose to do so.
Iranian officials have increasingly suggested Tehran could pursue an atomic bomb. U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.”
https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/iran-accelerates-production-of-near-weapons-grade-uranium-iaea-says-as-tensions-with-us-ratchet-up/#:~:text=The%20report%20by%20the%20Vienna,the%20last%20report%20in%20November.And Iran is promoting violence, war, and destruction. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard (i.e., the Iranian Government) has exported money, weapons, idealogy, and violence to and via its proxies in Yemen, Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon. That is well documented. I waited until now to respond and in the mean time READ lots to validate these points.
So this violence in the Middle East is NOT due to ONLY the US actions or that of Israel. The situation is not as one-sided as you suggest. It is not ALL due to Trump's action in 2018 and instead has happened since 1979 with the Iranian Revolution and their desire to export that Revolution outside Iran. (I would argue that Trump's actions in 2018 has LITTLE impact on these proxies action in recent years, but that is too difficult to prove, it seems.) I did document earlier the attack on US Marines in 1983, and will do so again.
1983 Beirut barracks bombings, terrorist bombing attacks against U.S. and French armed forces in Beirut on October 23, 1983 that claimed 299 lives. The attacks, which took place amid the sectarian conflict of the extremely damaging Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), hastened the removal of the international peacekeeping force from Lebanon in February 1984. Responsibility was claimed by a group calling itself Islamic Jihad, a largely unknown cell whose known figures were later associated with Hezbollah.
https://www.britannica.com/event/1983-Beirut-barracks-bombingsThe war and violence in the Middle East around Israel is not limited to Trump's actions or policies. As I said in the Israel thread, this will continue for a VERY LONG time and long after Trump leaves Office. Peace has come slowly and Israel has managed peace with most of it neighbors (outside the Iranian proxies) and with the Sunni Gulf States.
And Trump had his hands in much of the peace and agreements that are in place NOW:
The Abraham Accords are a set of agreements that established diplomatic normalization between Israel and several Arab states, beginning with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.[1][2] Announced in August and September 2020 and signed in Washington, D.C. on September 15, 2020, the accords were mediated by the United States under President Donald Trump.[3] The UAE and Bahrain became the first Arab countries to formally recognize Israel since Jordan in 1994.[4] In the months that followed, Sudan and Morocco also agreed to normalize relations with Israel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_AccordsYou have to give Trump credit for SOME of the peace.
And I acknowledged that the US Bombing the Iranian nuclear facilities MAY cause more violence (and I did so on this point earlier, too, soon after the bombs were dropped from the US B-2 bombers). We do not know where all this will lead in the short and longer terms. It may lead to a better peace and may lead to more violence. I suggest here that we will get of BOTH, but that remains to be seen and greatly depends on how Iran reacts.
