General News Thread

[CornwallFox]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/troops-being-told-to-prepare-for-armageddon-in-iran_n_69a6ffe3e4b076ac5d63c82c

 

All completely normal

[st albans fox]

9 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/troops-being-told-to-prepare-for-armageddon-in-iran_n_69a6ffe3e4b076ac5d63c82c

 

All completely normal

Certainly fighting fire with fire! 
every week the world gets more strange (and more worrying ) 

[bovril]

19 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/troops-being-told-to-prepare-for-armageddon-in-iran_n_69a6ffe3e4b076ac5d63c82c

 

All completely normal

I always thought "America is a third world country in a Gucci belt" was very cheesy and untrue but perhaps not. Not sure even a third world country could produce a creature like Hegseth. 

[Jon the Hat]

12 hours ago, danny. said:

So you need to wait for them to show that in a military sense first? That sounds like a terrible tactic for war "I'll shoot that enemy only after they've already shot me". I think there are more factors that would go into a less black and white strategy. Iran also seems pretty happy to send missiles all over the Middle East at people with little to no provocation so they haven't exactly demonstrated to be peaceable and honourable. Side context: I don't think the US or anyone else from the West should have attacked Iran, it's meddling where they have no right or jurisdiction, but they have, and I'm just talking about their operations now they are already engaged.

Some coverage this morning suggests the Iranian Vessel - returning from invited Naval event in India - was actually unarmed under the terms of that visit, which the US Navy was aware of.  That changes the situation to be honest, as it was clearly not a risk, not able to attack and unlikely to make it back to a position to re arm.

[Clogger_]

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

Certainly fighting fire with fire! 
every week the world gets more strange (and more worrying ) 

Agree that the Israeli/American war is making the world "more worrying." With regards to the "strange" impulses driving this, maybe they'll have their day of reckoning

[Jon the Hat]

1 minute ago, Clogger_ said:

Agree that the Israeli/American war is making the world "more worrying." With regards to the "strange" impulses driving this, maybe they'll have their day of reckoning

The US has always had far right Christian nutters, but they are even more influential now than ever.  I am not sure if Trump actually believes or whether he just loves their support, but he has put them in the centre of power.

[MPH]

24 minutes ago, Clogger_ said:

Agree that the Israeli/American war is making the world "more worrying." With regards to the "strange" impulses driving this, maybe they'll have their day of reckoning

 

one thing I’m really enjoying  about this is watching China squirm quite a bit. They sold ( for oil) their most advanced air defense systems to Iran after the 12 day war in 2025 and they have all been destroyed,  Without a single plane lost by the U.S or Israel. Humiliating for China.

[Jon the Hat]

8 minutes ago, MPH said:

 

one thing I’m really enjoying  about this is watching China squirm quite a bit. They sold ( for oil) their most advanced air defense systems to Iran after the 12 day war in 2025 and they have all been destroyed,  Without a single plane lost by the U.S or Israel. Humiliating for China.

Three days in and the US are flying 70 year old B52s with impunity.  Nuts isn't it.

[danny.]

54 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Some coverage this morning suggests the Iranian Vessel - returning from invited Naval event in India - was actually unarmed under the terms of that visit, which the US Navy was aware of.  That changes the situation to be honest, as it was clearly not a risk, not able to attack and unlikely to make it back to a position to re arm.

Yea just been reading about it - seems pretty horrendous from the US from what I’ve read. 

[Wymsey]

10 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Three days in and the US are flying 70 year old B52s with impunity.  Nuts isn't it.

Excellent engineering standards can, literally, last for decades without fail - if maintained and utilised in the right way.

[MPH]

59 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Some coverage this morning suggests the Iranian Vessel - returning from invited Naval event in India - was actually unarmed under the terms of that visit, which the US Navy was aware of.  That changes the situation to be honest, as it was clearly not a risk, not able to attack and unlikely to make it back to a position to re arm.

 

4 minutes ago, danny. said:

Yea just been reading about it - seems pretty horrendous from the US from what I’ve read. 

 

 

this is still up for debate. Mixed reports  - some reports are saying it was armed up to the eyeballs but is being classed as unarmed in some reports because it was returning from a “ peacetime mission”

[MPH]

Admiral cooper, leader of CentCom has just given an update, and since they launched the attack, Irans ballistic missiles attacks have dropped by 90% and their drone attacks have drooped by 83%.

[WigstonWanderer]

On 05/03/2026 at 05:24, Clogger_ said:

Not all Reform voters are racist*, but an awful lot of racists are attracted to Reform...

 

(*I can't actually back this statement up, because every one I encounter is!)

I must say that to the best of my recollection, when I originally read the Guardian article I thought they were talking about Reform members not voters.

[Jon the Hat]

26 minutes ago, MPH said:

Admiral cooper, leader of CentCom has just given an update, and since they launched the attack, Irans ballistic missiles attacks have dropped by 90% and their drone attacks have drooped by 83%.

That is a massive reduction.  The question I suppose is "then what?"  What do you bomb once you take out the missile and drone capability?  

 

Good for Ukraine too as Iran has been such a major supplier to Russia.

[WigstonWanderer]

18 hours ago, Zear0 said:

Also not entirely sure against the declared, and constantly changing, war (not a war...) aim of, Regime change, stop nuclear weapon development, Destroy ballistic missile capability aligns with downing a s**ty old ship thousands of miles from the combat zone. 

 

It was unnecessary and is bordering on a war crime. I've got naval connections and the view of what they did is utter outrage. 

 

It’s a Special Military Operation 

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, Wymsey said:

Excellent engineering standards can, literally, last for decades without fail - if maintained and utilised in the right way.

More that they are slow and have the radar signature of a flying oil tanker, so if they are flying we know the air defences are gone.

[Jon the Hat]

20 minutes ago, WigstonWanderer said:

It’s a Special Military Operation 

So Special.  They say it's the most special military operation there's ever been...

[MPH]

48 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

That is a massive reduction.  The question I suppose is "then what?"  What do you bomb once you take out the missile and drone capability?  

 

Good for Ukraine too as Iran has been such a major supplier to Russia.

 

Admiral cooper was saying that irans opening salvo to the  recent nuclear talks was to declare that they had 450kgs of 60% enriched uranium which would be enough to eventually turn into 11 nuclear bombs! Probably the stupidest way you could imagine to open negotiations 
 

The scary part is they are saying that there will be a ramping up of attacking and missiles/ bombing into Iran as more fire power arrives!

 

one can only assume they are going after all the factories and components of their ballistic missile capabilities,  everything and everyone related to the nuclear program and even the places that make the military uniforms by the sound of it!

Edited 6 March by MPH

[Sly]

They’re just aiming to level Iran to the point they’ll not have any military capability.

 

The next thing that will happen is that they’ll walk off and leave it in its current mess.

 

We’ll then get a random bunch of outlaws or some religious extremist trying to claim it, who will commit untold atrocities and it’ll be rinse and repeat. 

[Sly]

What’s the latest on Trump being in the Epstein files then? Or have we sweat that under the carpet (again). 

[STUHILL]

Reuters
Exclusive: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike (killing 168, mostly school girls)

Would explain why the US and Israel are still 'investigating'... 

 

[WigstonWanderer]

1 hour ago, MPH said:

 

one can only assume they are going after all the factories and components of their ballistic missile capabilities,  everything and everyone related to the nuclear program and even the places that make the military uniforms by the sound of it!

Don’t forget the elementary girls schools 

[STUHILL]

4 minutes ago, WigstonWanderer said:

Don’t forget the elementary girls schools 

+ hospitals

 

'...At least 13 hospitals and health facilities hit during attacks on Iran, WHO says
Global health body investigating reports that four medics are among the 1,230 people killed in Iran since start of war'

 

Same playbook as in Gaza. They will bomb most of Tehran with huge civilian casualities. 

 

I despise the Iranian regime as much as anyone, but I have not heard from my friend who lives in Tehran since the bombing started, and I can't imagine the hell her and her family are going through right now. 

[Detroit Blues]

45 minutes ago, Sly said:

What’s the latest on Trump being in the Epstein files then? Or have we sweat that under the carpet (again). 

The US House oversight committee just voted (bipartisan) to subpoena DOJ Secretary Pam Bondi over the release of documents in accordance with legal requirements of the Epstein files transparency act.

 

The committee could in theory force her to actually give answers to questions about Trump's involvement, missing documents that could implicate Trump, DOJ's involvement in a cover up, the malicious redactions of information that would implicate other conspirators (or failures to redact victim information), etc. It's not a high probability that what comes out of the hearing would actually lead to Trump's downfall, but the chance isn't zero either. 

 

If anything else it might retake the news cycle from the Iran war, which will start to become less exciting to US audiences.

[WigstonWanderer]

34 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

+ hospitals

 

'...At least 13 hospitals and health facilities hit during attacks on Iran, WHO says
Global health body investigating reports that four medics are among the 1,230 people killed in Iran since start of war'

 

Same playbook as in Gaza. They will bomb most of Tehran with huge civilian casualities. 

 

I despise the Iranian regime as much as anyone, but I have not heard from my friend who lives in Tehran since the bombing started, and I can't imagine the hell her and her family are going through right now. 

I doubt whether many here would defend the theocratic regime in Iran and I’m sure we can all agree that the long suffering population would be better off under a free democracy.

 

However there is virtually zero chance that any externally inspired regime change would result in this outcome. It has been tried by considerably more competent, well meaning people than Trump and there aren’t many successes, especially in recent times. I doubt whether Trump cares a damn about the people of Iran (other than how outcomes affect his legacy).

 

Also, how is it expected that this will end? Trump seems to believe that Iranians will rise up and overthrow the regime. Firstly AFAICT, that is extremely unlikely, not just because the regime will likely remain strong enough to quell such an uprising, but there seems to be a “rally around the flag” response from many of them, and a hard core of supporters of the theocracy.

 

If there is an uprising it will likely result in a horrendous civil war that could go on for years and end in anarchy. Perhaps this is what the Trump regime wants. The only alternative is a ground invasion that Trump definitely doesn’t want but may be forced into, having opened Pandora’s box. This would no doubt eventually remove the regime, but again won’t give Iranians a democracy.

Edited 6 March by WigstonWanderer