Israel, Iran launch more barrages as Israel aims to wipe out Tehran's nuclear program

Israel hasn't been able to "remove the Hamas threat,', nor the "Hezbollah threat ", both non state actors without traditional defence infrastructure.

If you cant defeat a rag tag militia group, what hope defeating a real nation like Iran with decades of defence building

Presume Netanyahu still hiding in his bunker.....warrior !

at least 20 Iranian military commanders were killed...Iran also said six of its top nuclear scientists had been killed.

Sorry, folks, I'm actually really happy about that.

...reminiscent of Israeli attacks that swiftly wiped out the leadership of Lebanon's once-feared Hezbollah militia last year.

Good work.

Israel hasn't been able to "remove the Hamas threat,', nor the "Hezbollah threat ", both non state actors without traditional defence infrastructure.

Well, they are taking care of that and Iran all at the same time.

If you cant defeat a rag tag militia group, what hope defeating a real nation like Iran with decades of defence building 

They're doing it now.

Presume Netanyahu still hiding in his bunker.....warrior !

Come on, seriously?

It's a shame they can't both lose.

It's a shame they can't both lose.

I prefer the bad guys to lose, and Iran is losing

GuruMickToday  06:17 am JST

Israel hasn't been able to "remove the Hamas threat,', nor the "Hezbollah threat "

That's because Israel, and others more broadly fundamentally misunderstand what Hamas is, Mick. Hamas is the manifestation of a normal human reaction in the face of sustained and systematic oppression over decades, namely, resistance and a will for liberty.

History is full of cases where rebels are lauded as national heroes. Take for example, say, the American Revolutionary War, where American rebels (freedom fighters) fought against the oppression of British colonial rule. National heroes. Founding fathers of the modern US State.

And when you strip away the flags, colours, belief systems etc, exactly the same scenario in Palestine.

"We knew everything," Trump said of the Israeli attack plans.

"I tried to save Iran humiliation and death. I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out," Trump said. "They can still work out a deal, however, it’s not too late."

Earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left."

Course they did - they even helped shoot down the incoming retaliatory missiles overnight.

This attack may tip the scales into a bigger war in the Middle East. How long are the other countries going to just sit by and let Israel kill Palestinians holus bolus, and attack other countries in the region at will (So far - Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq?). Us Taxpayer funded rogue state, right now.

Just another smoke screen for corruption trial.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-court-cancels-netanyahu-s-hearing-in-corruption-trial/3594097

invoking the failure to halt the Holocaust in World War Two.

Got to keep bringing that old chestnut up..

Hamas is the manifestation of a normal human reaction in the face of sustained and systematic oppression over decades, namely, resistance and a will for liberty.

Now I’ve heard it all!

I prefer the bad guys to lose, and Iran is losing

If there is a "bad" side, it is certainly Israel. By a mile.

invoking the failure to halt the Holocaust in World War Two.

How about the failure to halt the Holocaust in Gaza?

Ask the Israel boosters why they want to see Israel "win ".....then look at what "winning " looks like in Gaza, then consider charges of genocide on Israel heads of Government and Military through the UN no less., look at the tens of thousands of INNOCENT deaths, the use of hunger as a war tactic ,the destruction of everything in Gaza from homes, hospitals, places of worship, Universities, the destruction of farmland and of course, the arbitrary killing of medical workers.

Ahhh...I think you are on the wrong side .

Borne of US relations with Israel, the false presentation of Israel as a "little nation , the only democracy in the ME and a big helping of the Jewish lobby, Fox news and the like....

Compare all this to Iran A COUNTRY YOU KNOW ZERO ABOUT.

I call this wilfull ignorance.

I prefer the bad guys to lose, and Iran is losing - bass4funk

The "bad guys". lol How old are you?

A couple of Israeli quotes in the BBC for you. Just let this sink in, given what they have been subjecting the Palestinians to:

A journalist for Israel's Haaretz newspaper and a resident of Tel Aviv, Gideon Levy, has just spoken to the BBC about Iran's missile attacks on the city earlier this evening.

In an interview for Newshour, Levy, who had been seeking refuge in a public shelter in the city, says: "We heard quite loud the explosions. Not a very pleasant feeling.''

And,

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said that Iran crossed "red lines" on Friday when its missiles targeted civilian areas in response to Israel's recent wave of attacks.

"Iran has crossed red lines by daring to fire missiles at civilian population centres in Israel," he said in a statement.

Wow on that one.

Not a sliver of irony either, it would seem.

Zionist war mongers in Israel and it's allies are doing what they do best Killing and Creating Chaos.

Israel will never see peace for as long as these war criminal are on the lose.

Lock up Bibi before it's too late.

Zionist war mongers in Israel and it's allies are doing what they do best Killing and Creating Chaos.

Wait, the Iranians are the ones who wanted to destroy the Jewish nation. I'll tell you what, if someone threatens to hurt me or to harm my family, I will deal with you before you can get that chance

Israel will never see peace for as long as these war criminal are on the lose. 

Yes, they will, as these nuclear scientists have just seen, now they're not with us anymore, they all didn't have to die, but they chose their fate. Doesn't matter if Jews are hated and surrounded by enemies; they just have to live with them. They can do it peacefully and respectfully, or they can try and take them on and lose every single time. 

Lock up Bibi before it's too late.

Oh, please.

""Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli campaign was aimed at defeating an existential threat from Iran, invoking the failure to halt the Holocaust in World War Two.""

Then I suggest that Bibi and his troops go fight those who inflected and carried out the Holocaust and it wasn't the Palestinians, The Iranians, or the Arabs, it was Bibi's own race.

This is going to go regional.

Israeli leader hiding in a bunker, surely taken a pistol with him as a last resort.

Fight Iran, resist, do justice for Palestine!??..

This is Karma for the Zionist regime, but it's nothing compared to the genocide they're carrying out in Palestine.

Israel has never suffered such a severe attack in its modern history..

Iran is on the right side of history...

And for now, three US-made F-35s have been shot down..

The world's most expensive flying junk has once again proven its ineffectiveness, and Israel's famous Iron Dome has turned out to be an iron sieve..

Go Persians!!..

And for Zionist lovers...

ISRAEL STARTED ALL THIS...

ISRAEL STARTED ALL THIS...

No, they did not, but they will finish it, that's a promise.

So, what's going to be the consequences of the Israeli regime winning? They'll keep slaughtering civilians around the region with impunity. The NNPT, the ICC, the UNSC become irredeemable farces. The NWPT dies.

What's the consequences of Iran winning? The region gets stabilized, the dictatorships will feel pressure to democratize because there's nobody coming to restore them (or a clone of them) to power. The NNPT gets at least tightened up (no more exemptions from inspection, no more board of politicians 'reinterpreting' what the inspectors find, and insisting that the sixth time an unsubstantiated accusation is made the accusation has to be considered absolutely true until definitively debunked tge way the previous 5 were) and begins transitioning to the NWPT, the ICC faces a similar reform to get rid of exemptions and political charges, the UNSC becomes less of a tool of the colonial powers.

So, which side do YOU support?

Fight Iran, resist, do justice for Palestine!??..

This is Karma for the Zionist regime, but it's nothing compared to the genocide they're carrying out in Palestine.

But the Iranians want to wipe Israel off the map. So you're essentially saying, you can punch me and burn my house down, but I just have to take it? Well, buddy...I got bad news for you....

Israel has never suffered such a severe attack in its modern history..

Iran has never lost so many important players in a single day

Iran is on the right side of history...

Judging by the body count and mounting, I would beg to differ

And for now, three US-made F-35s have been shot down.. 

*However, neither Israel nor independent sources have confirmed this. The Israel Defense Forces have denied the reports, and no credible evidence (like wreckage or prisoner confirmation) has surfaced.*

-source The Guardian

The world's most expensive flying junk has once again proven its ineffectiveness, and Israel's famous Iron Dome has turned out to be an iron sieve..

Junk? The Chinese don't think so; that's why they made a cheaper knock-off version. You have no idea what you are talking about, as usual.

Go Persians!!..

They will need all the help they can get.

Seeing the guy who's antidemocratic regime has been committing genocide on the majority of its LEGAL POPULATION asking the population of Iran to overthrow the Iranian government reminds me of Saddam Hussain's spokesperson claiming the outraged Iraqi population were slaughtering the American military invaders.

Netanyahu's disconnect from reality is total.

Welcome to another Republican Middle East war - they just can't help themselves...

And another of Trump's campaign promises goes right down the golf-plated toilet...

Trump-wars 2.0....

Unilateral unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation. No doubt our morally superior leaders will respond resolutely and invoke powerful sanctions on the attacker any moment now, won't they.

Think about this, the costs of carrying out the UNPROVOKED ATTACK ON IRAN almost certainly ran higher than the costs of the Iranian response plus the costs of all the destruction Netanyahu caused. If you add in the costs of everything that Netanyahu threw into a failed attempt to block the probing wave of the response, the 'almost certainly' loses its qualifier. And that's just the beginning. Tonight's response probably was testing out the upgrades, reworks, and new designs to Iran's drones and missiles based on what they learned in their previous response to a smaller unprovoked Israeli attack on them. Because the Iranian weapon design program follows the successful Allied weapon design program (using what's available in quantity wherever possible) their turnaround time for upgrades etc AND low overhead for mass production, the disparity in costs are going to expand rapidly, and success rates (both with offence and defense) for Iran will undergo exponential rises.

Israeli leader hiding in a bunker, surely taken a pistol with him as a last resort.

Following the playbook of his hero, hopefully.

Remember when Trump said he will bring peace to the world in 24 hours??..

https://scontent-itm1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/495485794_1182407390586568_7560922927972581393_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=833d8c&_nc_ohc=TaOIe0oQrjEQ7kNvwHmCQTp&_nc_oc=AdkYjlklf7efJbz1nbBBeYcooqBqZyw5ahR4ZN7Y9be9NDNqBzHaew7cY2q4_Oy3YD4&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-itm1-1.xx&_nc_gid=c0IAXq5zeNzCLIZHimo5Rw&oh=00_AfMjAnzEeYTAutZmeNbszoHagTUGgf_KKTvS5Axg1RMcoQ&oe=6852A122

Iran's current government does not recognize Israel's legitimacy as a state and has called for its destruction;

Read the sentence above if you're having trouble understanding why Israel doesn't want Iran to have nuclear weapons.

Remember when Trump said he will bring peace to the world in 24 hours??..

It will come one way or another

Seems clear Iranian leadership is unwilling to give up nuclear enrichment. That's the only issue at stake, as Iran can have civilian nuclear power etc.

Amazing, 93M people and a few leaders in Iran prioritizing nuclear enrichment over their welfare. Very few countries enrich, why can't Iran just accept that further nuclear weapons proliferation is a red line?

Israel is raining on Trump's Military Birthday Parade.

Bibi's defiance of Trump really highlights how weak he is...

Here Trump has been bragging about his "peace talks" with Iran that having been going on for two months - and promising to "make a deal"...and Rubio was even scheduled to meet with with Iranians on Sunday...

And what happened to that deal? His BFF Bibi just blew it to pieces...and showed he had zero respect for Trump or fear of any repercussions...

Trump can't spin it any other way - this is a huge loss for him personally...

And more worrisome, the Chinese look and see the most impotent American President ever...

Once again, Israel is doing the dirty work of dealing with Iran's rogue nuclear proliferation the way many nations wished they could but won't because they lack the resolve.

Bass....were in the Iran department of state is there a mission to "destroy Israel "

You have been fed the hasbara rubbish havent you.

People on the street chanting "death to US or Israel " does not translate into a state backed policy.

Israelis yell "death to Arabs " all the time.

And what is "rogue " about seeking nuclear power.

Australians political parties are also considering it.

The real fact is the US State Department has had a long standing program to destroy and steal oil revenues from a number of ME nations....Libya, Iraq, now Iran.

The neo cons have this policy in writing.

See The Plot to Invade Iran.

Precision attacks on Iranian military targets by Israel.

Indiscriminate attacks by Iran on Israeli cities.

Israel is raining on Trump's Military Birthday Parade.

No, the parade will go on as scheduled.

Parade today in US Capital is because its the US Army's 250th Birthday. Fact that it's also Trump's Birthday's irrelevant as is conflict between Iran and Israel

Seems the 'window' for a quick de-escalation has already closed, so now it's a question of how long this continues, does the US become involved directly etc.

So Iran is not allowed to develop nuclear weapon capability yet Israel can and has?! The stinking elephant in the room has always been Israel's nuclear bomb. Nobody but nobody dare mention the N-word on account of a rogue state's "exceptionalism".

Chaos and war in the Mid East again, having an adverse knock-on effect on Ukraine, as US military readiness and the issue of Iranian nuclear weapons proliferation, far more pressing than a territorial matter in Eastern Europe.

HopeSpringsEternalToday 10:25 am JST

Chaos and war in the Mid East again, having an adverse knock-on effect on Ukraine, as US military readiness and the issue of Iranian nuclear weapons proliferation, far more pressing than a territorial matter in Eastern Europe.

Trump just made the US military a lot less ready.

u_s__reamerToday  10:25 am JST

So Iran is not allowed to develop nuclear weapon capability yet Israel can and has?! The stinking elephant in the room has always been Israel's nuclear bomb. Nobody but nobody dare mention the N-word on account of a rogue state's "exceptionalism".

2 words - weapons proliferation - because the thing you have to remember is that if Iran gets 'the bomb' then so does Hezbollah. So in that context, no, Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapon capability.

Remember when Trump said he will bring peace to the world in 24 hours??..

You could argue this is another flip flop but it was probably just lies to begin with to get elected.

All three of Ukraine, Gaza/West Bank and Iran were bad but are now significantly worse. Ukraine's been turned over EU hawks, Gaza is in a genocidal famine, and Iran will be building a nuke as fast as they can. Trump has his own free plane worth 400M though, so US foreign policy is going great!

The IDF kicked out the Fox News guy trying to report it, but Iran got at least two hits on the Israel military headquarters. That is not a civilian target. Insert your own comment about the Iron Dome.

Maybe someone cleverer than me can see a path to de-escalation but I can't see it. Israel attacked days before negotiations. That is not what people interested in peace. It is what you do to destroy trust and make negotiation impossible.

I hope it will be, but this does not look like a little regional thing that has no effect on the rest of us. It is clear that this has very little to do with Iran's nuclear capability, Trump himself ripped up the treaty about that the last time, and is 100% about regime change in Iran, as desired by Israel/Netanyahu.

To the Japanese posters on here supporting Iran and their right to develop nuclear weapons, how about North Korea? We all good there for nukes? What, "not in my backyard"? What, "the US better stop them or protect us if NK gets nukes". Yeah, I thought so.

Israel is reacting to a neighbor who calls them "little Satan" and calls for their death and destruction and who is on the verge of having nuclear weapons.

Please post that you are fine with North Korea also have nuclear weapons and you wish the US "would just go away".

how about North Korea? 

That's why USA won't dare attack NK. Bullies only choose to bully the weak. Or those perceived to be weak, but USA still lost in Vietnam, Korea and Afghanistan.

This unprovoked attack was clearly another case of USA using someone else (Israel) to do their own dirty work.

So Iran is not allowed to develop nuclear weapon capability yet Israel can and has?!

Yes, and most likely.

The stinking elephant in the room has always been Israel's nuclear bomb. Nobody but nobody dare mention the N-word on account of a rogue state's "exceptionalism".

No, Israel is not trying to kill Muslims or any Muslim nation; on the other hand, the Iranians would in a heartbeat. So, no, they can't have nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu's failures in Gaza and beyond had compelled him to act, as he saw his chances slipping away.

The question is what this attack dog will do next. Clear his ongoing aggression will be given the Green Light.

Precisely why other countries have to secure their flanks in response to this behaviour.

I think Israel is making a strategic mistake. First, Israel lacks weapons capable of defeating Iran's most deeply buried nuclear sites. Israel doesn't have a combat jet capable of carrying the kinds of heavy ordnance necessary to get at Iran's best protected sites. Only the USAF has that, namely the B-2 and the 13,600 kg GPU-57. As a result Israel cannot fully destroy Iran's nuclear program. They can only destroy surface targets and targets buried a few meters beneath the surface. At best they can Iran's nuclear weapons program but they cannot destroy the most important facilities because they are just too far underground.

The second part of their error was they have now ruined any chance of a negotiated end to Iran's nuclear program, which I firmly believe was their overarching goal. What this will do, however, is harden Iran's resolve and cause Iran to cross the threshold to building actual nuclear weapons. Moreover the lessons of this attack will force them to bury everything as deeply as possible including the power stations and water reservoirs so Israel and the USAF cannot touch their rebuilt facilities.

No, Israel is not trying to kill Muslims or any Muslim nation;

The Israelis are very much trying to kill off the Palestinians and take their land.

That's why USA won't dare attack NK. 

The US won't attack DPRK because about half the South Korean population lives within range of North Korean artillery and rockets. Estimates of South Korean casualties on the first day of a resumption of hostilities are on the order of 100,000 per hour. Per hour. Nobody on the US or South Korean side has any appetite for initiating that kind of bloodshed. Much of the South Korean population is concentrated around Seoul and Incheon and they live in big high rise complexes each with thousands to tens of thousands of residents. The threat is not North Korean nuclear weapons so much as their heavy concentration of well dug in artillery and rockets just across the DMZ from South Korea that would ravage Seoul and Incheon in the opening hours of a second Korean War.

I should have said at best Israel can delay Iran's nuclear program and the bomb is the GBU-57, not GPU. Sorry for the errors.

Certainty that US will take part in any 'clean-up' if needed to remove any nuclear infrastructure, if the Iranians do not as a result of this attack, decide to settle this matter via diplomacy.

Trump's #1national security issue is Iran nuclear weapons proliferation, far more important than anything else in terms of urgency or long-term adverse implications

While Israel may not have heaviest of bombers, they have very good bunker busters. Repeated targeting gets you nice and deep, where you need to go at deepest sites, plus bunker busting ballistic missiles can be used.

No question PM of Israel and Trump in total alignment

The Israelis are very much trying to kill off the Palestinians and take their land.

No, they’re trying to kill the threat that is Hamas, I’m all for that.

I think Israel is making a strategic mistake. First, Israel lacks weapons capable of defeating Iran's most deeply buried nuclear sites. Israel doesn't have a combat jet capable of carrying the kinds of heavy ordnance necessary to get at Iran's best protected sites. Only the USAF has that, namely the B-2 and the 13,600 kg GPU-57. As a result Israel cannot fully destroy Iran's nuclear program.

Well, one way to stop Iran from proliferating and enriching their uranium production is to just kill the scientists working on it…oh, that’s what they just did.

The second part of their error was they have now ruined any chance of a negotiated end to Iran's nuclear program, which I firmly believe was their overarching goal. What this will do, however, is harden Iran's resolve and cause Iran to cross the threshold to building actual nuclear weapons.

They can take the hardest position they want, they will never be allowed to possess nukes. It’s just that simple

Moreover the lessons of this attack will force them to bury everything as deeply as possible including the power stations and water reservoirs so Israel and the USAF cannot touch their rebuilt facilities

They can bury these weapons to the core of the earth, but the people working on them, can’t protect them forever, the Israelis know it and the Iranians know it even if they don’t want to accept it. Either way, the Iranians won’t win this, nor should they.

Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing cabinet aim is to remove all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, an ethnic cleansing, and also from the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Trump wants PEACE in the Mid East, especially to help the Palestinians achieve a more hopeful future, but the pressing matter has always been Iran's nuclear ambitions

bass4funk

No, Israel is not trying to kill Muslims or any Muslim nation

You are right, they are succeeding in killing Palestinians wholesale, not merely trying.

Spot on mate.

Fordow plant is built under a mountain. 100 plus meters of hark rock before enforced concrete. Strategic Spirits can't do it. Face it. IAEA Grossi confirmed not hit.

Far from destabilizing Tehran and Iran of 90 million, this action by the usual suspects has almost guaranteed a future certain deterrent.

Killing university professors and their families, on campus, via cowardly attack, guarantees this.

Also important to observe this was a completely unprovoked assault.

During so-called talks is even more disgraceful.

Targeting university professors and their children is gutter slime behaviour.

Iran has each and every right to defend itself, especially as an independent decent member of the UN.

(the concept that Israel only has some 'special right' to 'defend' itself with controversial actions is a fiction shamelessly bestowed by their main sponsor)

I think Iran and Israel have been wanting to wipe each other out completely since I was in high school. Maybe longer.

For a while there I thought we had an agreement with Iran that woud have reduced that possibility, but Trump of course had to overturn it, just because (1) he has to overturn anything that Obama or Biden did. And (2) Trunp is very much a puppet of Israel. Goes back to his New York Real Estate days where all the major players are Jews. This was obvious in his first term wen he moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018.

I respect that both Israel and Iran each have good and valid reasons for wanting to wipe each other out. But I don't want to see the United States get dragged back into the sandbox just because our current POTUS has deranged fixations amd is incapable of putting America First.

OA - for once we partially agree.

However, both sides of Washington are more than culpable on the charge sheet.

No, they’re trying to kill the threat that is Hamas, I’m all for that.

You are not paying attention to what is happening in the West Bank. Israeli settlers are murdering Palestinians and burning their homes. It is a full on pogrom against the Palestinians by mostly Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews.

Trump wants PEACE in the Mid East, especially to help the Palestinians achieve a more hopeful future, but the pressing matter has always been Iran's nuclear ambitions

I guess that explains the new US Ambassador to Israel telling the press that the US no longer thinks there can be a Palestinian state in Palestine suggesting Arab nations should give up land for the Palestinians to live in.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-mike-huckabee-deep-doubts-palestinian-state-muslim-neighbours-could-give-land

“Nuclear weapons for me, but none for thee,” so declares the state of Israel—a nation state that only exists because England enabled the fanatical Jewish religious belief found in ancient Jewish religious books that God had empowered the people of Israel to seize the land and exterminate the existing Canaanite nations that were already living there. It is this fanatical belief, this religious sense of entitlement to the land which obstinately remains no matter how many times they themselves are defeated, which prevents more peaceful solutions from consideration—such as moving the world Jewish population to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia. The Jewish people simply MUST have that particular parcel of land to substantiate their religious books. It is this which is working in the background of the historical events we are witnessing. Jewish actions are no less fanatical than Muslims. I therefore find it troubling to see such a fanatical state in possession of nuclear weapons. I mean, what happens when that same state seeks to expand its borders based on where Abraham walked or the territory that king David ruled? Jewish religion is an expressly religio-political belief system which has implications not only for the Middle East, but the world as a whole.

The Israeli narrative which likes to talk as if history started on October 7 obviously leaves out much from the discussion. For example,

During the foundational events of the Nakba in 1948, approximately half of Palestine's predominantly Arab population, or around 750,000 people, were expelled from their homes or made to flee through various violent means, at first by Zionist paramilitaries, and after the establishment of the State of Israel, by its military. Dozens of massacres targeted Palestinian Arabs and over 500 Arab-majority towns, villages, and urban neighborhoods were depopulated. Many of the settlements were either completely destroyed or repopulated by Jews and given new Hebrew names. Israel employed biological warfare against Palestinians by poisoning village wells. By the end of the war, 78% of the total land area of the former Mandatory Palestine was controlled by Israel.

— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba

Making Israel out to be the level headed and reasonable party in the conflict is simply wrong. There is fanaticism on all sides.