Middle East War Briefing
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
So the question is who here doesn't think the US, using B2's and MOPs, helping the IDF take out the Fordow nuke facility is a good idea? As long as it doesn't devolve into US boots on the ground, I'm ok with it.
Kyle
Beloved Misanthrope
Question will be, what will their Chinese ally do.
glhs837
Power with Control
Invade Taiwan?
So far, neither they nor the Russians are saying anything publicly.
They are both probably like "Sorry dude, shouldn't have stuck your crank in the grinder....."
I'm ok with disabling a nuke facility, but very concerned that nuclear material might be released in a raid/bombing, making the area 'hot'.
Kyle
Beloved Misanthrope
Downfall of the ayatollahs?
By Civis AmericanusKhameneiUntergang (Downfall, 2004) is a movie about the last days of the Hitler regime, including Hitler's nine-millimeter-and-cyanide honeymoon with Eva Braun.
We are now looking at the final days of Iran's theocracy, which is likely to collapse by the end of the week; one week after Israel began military action.
It is well known from history that, when a country's leaders flee the battlefield, the war is over for them.
At Gaugamela in 331 B.C.E., the massive Persian army collapsed when King Darius turned his chariot to run from Alexander the Great, who was personally trying to kill him.
Once his army saw him flee, it lost its will to fight and that is why so many cities in that region are now named Alexandria or its equivalent, such as Kandahar (formerly Alexandria Arachosia).
It is now being reported that the Iranian leaders whom Israel has not killed are running like rats.
According to the Times of Israel:
He might well not be the only one because Iran's leaders are dying like flies. The survivors know what the Persian people will do to them when the regime finally goes down, namely, what the Italian people did with Benito Mussolini.
Ordinary Iranians are meanwhile fleeing major cities wholesale even though they know or should know that Israel will not aim at noncombatants.
Big Badda-Boom: Why Only One Plane and One Bomb Can Crack Fordow
Still, the GBU-57 MOP is an impressive beast in its own right. While MOP is about 50% bigger than MOAB (!!!) at 30,000 pounds, it actually uses less than one-third as much explosive material. The GBU uses a combination of sheer mass, hardened steel, Mach 1 speed, and GPS pinpoint accuracy to penetrate up to 200 feet underground before its tiny computer brain tells the 5,300 pounds of high explosive to go BOOM.
To borrow a line from "Armageddon," the difference between MOAB and MOP is like setting off a larger firecracker on the open palm of your hand or setting off a smaller one inside your clenched fist. The first one is going to sting, but that second one might rip your hand apart.
And as far as we know, no other country — not the Russians, not the Chinese — has an air-dropped penetrator anything like the GBU-57. Not even close.
So that's MOAB versus MOP. But still, you've got to put that bad boy on target.
What I didn't know until today is that only the B-2 Spirit heavy stealth bomber can carry the GBU-57. I had thought that our other two big bombers — the venerable B-52 Stratofortress and the dead-sexy B-1 Lancer — could, just by virtue of their size and payload capability, wield it.
Trump Voters Speak: New Poll Smashes the Israel-Iran 'MAGA Divide' Myth to Smithereens
The poll, which was prepared by GrayHouse for the Senate Republican Committee, showed MAGA far from being fractured, with a staggering 80 percent of Trump voters voicing their support for the U.S. providing Israel with offensive weapons in its efforts to destroy Iran's military and nuclear capabilities.
That's not all. Poll results show that 83 percent of Trump voters support the strikes on Iran's nuclear program, with 72 percent supporting the U.S. taking "direct military action" to prevent Tehran from developing its nuclear capabilities.
Perhaps the most telling bit of information to emerge from this new poll is how MAGA feels about relying on diplomatic efforts to resolve the escalating conflict. In short, they're against it, with 73 percent stating they don't trust Tehran to keep their end of any diplomatic deal. This is the number that shatters the narrative that one side of MAGA supports diplomacy while the other side is in favor of military action. MAGA, it seems, is united in its determination that ensure that Iran does not develop and use nukes, and they're behind the president taking all necessary action to stop them. The schism that some X users love to talk about simply doesn't exist.
The polling also showed a high level of awareness amongst Trump voters of the escalating situation in the Middle East, with 93 percent having seen, heard or read about the military conflict underway between Israel and Iran.
Here are some other numbers behind the poll:
- Number of 2024 Trump voters polled: 450
- Poll conducted: June 14-15
- Voters 65 or older: 35 percent
- Voters 50-64: 33 percent
- Voters 30-49: 26 percent
- Voters 19-29: 7 percent
- Male: 60 percent
- Female: 40 percent
Exiled Crown Prince of Iran Says Now Is The Best Time for the People to 'Get Rid Of' the Islamist Regime
Five days into Israel's "Rising Lion" campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and as President Donald Trump is now calling for the "unconditional surrender" of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other Islamists in the radical nation's government, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince of Iran, says now is the "best opportunity" for the Iranian people to "finally overcome this regime and get rid of it.”
During an interview with ABC News aired on Monday, Pahlavi told the interviewer that the battle within Iran — in the minds of Iranian people, that is — has been going on for decades. (It should be noted that Pahlavi's father, the last Shah of Iran, was overthrown in 1979.)
Pahlavi said:
BOP
Well-Known Member
Maybe we can sweeten the pot and get them to hit Smell-A and San Fran as well.
PJay
Well-Known Member
"Iran’s Former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi declares the Islamic Republic is collapsing and has come to its end What has begun is irreversible. The future is bright, and together we will turn the page of history. Now is the time to stand up; the time to reclaim Iran. May I be with you soon. Reza Pahlavi, born October 31, 1960, in Tehran, is the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and Empress Farah Diba. Named Crown Prince in 1967, he was heir to the throne until the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy and established the Islamic Republic, forcing his family into exile."