The Ayatollah's weakness has never been on better display. Apparently, and not even in a police state like Iran, can the gangsters in charge run totally roughshod over the people. We must embrace and celebrate this fact.
No doubt the Ayatollah is intensely aware of the circumstances under which the Shah fell, and is totally focused on not suffering the same fate. If he were truly wise, he would step aside and let the Iranian people determine how they wish to be governed. Alas, that bright prospect is not at all in the offing.
3
This is the first time in eight years that Iran's supreme leader spoke publicly?
It could have been a golden opportunity for him to calm the waters in his own country over the accidental downing of that civilian airliner.
However, he gave only "scant condolences to the families who lost relatives in the crash" and then verbally attack the United States.
Neither impressed nor moved by his grandstanding.
5
@Marge Keller
The Ayatollah is the head of a criminal gang hiding behind religious veils. There are few Iranians unaware of this fact, and the vast majority understand that their wisest move is to simply keep their heads down and go about their business.
As Americans, we find this abhorrent. What to do about it, if anything, is the constant question.
4
I’m sure my readers are getting tired of this (kidding...) but numerous reports I’ve seen from Iranians through other media affirm that vast majority of Iranians want the Islamic leadership dissolved and saw Soulemani as a terrorist thug. Yet, when the regime got a few hundred thousand stooges to weep and protest the assassination, Andrea Mitchell (and others) reported as fact that all-evil Trump negated earlier protests and unified the Iranian country.
Who holds Mitchell and the media accountable for those lies?
5
Martyr Suleimani?!
Has the Great Ayatollah ever in his life read the Book, better know in the Islamic world under its human-given name - the Quran?
Nobody has the right to proclaim any human as a believer. That's exclusively God's prerogative.
Martyr is somebody who died fighting for the faith. How God prohibited violence to us, per definition a martyr is somebody killed by the local tyrant for speaking the truth, not somebody who died with a sword in his arm.
Since we cannot make determination whether any other human is a believer or not, it means when we wage a war we have no idea whether we fight against the believers or not.
The true believers thus avoid the wars at all cost.
Since general Suleimani was fighting in the wars between the Shiites and the Sunnis, and no such side exists in the Book, then nobody could have proclaimed the Iranians general as a martyr or somebody fighting on God's path.
Shame on all the Iranian ayatollahs for being afraid to speak the truth!
3
Ali Khamenei, Kim Jong-un, Donald Trump. Kind of like History Channel’s “Vikings” episodes except that Björn Ironside, King Harald and Heahmund, and Lagertha put their own lives at risk in battles. Ten centuries later, the rhetoric and threats reported almost daily are anachronisms at best, weights around our collective necks at worst.
1
Mullah Regime Leader Khamenei & Co., time is over for your ACT in this POLITICAL CIRCUS, which you did played for last 40 years for GREAT IRANIAN NATION. Destroyed NATION'S 2500 GOLDEN YEARS OF RESPECT AND PRIDE ALL OVER THE WORLD. Khamenei & Co., needs to understand , NOW THERE IS A NEW RINGMASTER...... .
A bunch of superstitious religious clowns whose leader wears a 7th century costume and headgear.
Let's really stick it to them so that the Iranian people themselves kick them out.
Iran makes its money by selling oil. We ought to go to Iran's customers and offer to sell our oil to them at a discount. As a further incentive we could offer to buy more of their products. That should do it.
2
Whose face did the Supreme Leader slap with his missiles when shooting down the Ukrainian Airlines jet and killing all passengers, who regardless of citizenship, were almost entirely Persian? And what about God telling him to lie about it for three days?
1
A further thought-the Ayatollah’s failure to acknowledge and apologize for the murder of fellow Iranians, Canadians, and Ukrainians when his military shot the airliner is inexcusable, and betrays any notion of civilized behavior.
How does the shoe fit on the other foot, Ayatollah baby?
1
Pot----Kettle----Black
.....but it doesn't make him wrong
Remove the religious garbs and the scene looks like something out of Nazi Germany where some leader with a higher calling will guide its population to some fantastic destiny. Can't help but notice the spaceship looking geometric lighting on the ceilings... Of course, you will not hear a peep out of these zealots about millions of Muslims getting shipped to concentration forced labor camps in China. Maybe they don't know who their true enemies are? Oh of course, they've been bankrolled by Communists who believes religion is opium for the masses for so long they will never bite the hands that feed them. So goes again, "money talks..."
1
The sermon of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a new evidence that the Iranian leaders don’t want peace with US.
1
How come nobody is talking about the peace deal with Iran?
If our elected officials were incapable of achieving such a simple goal then we urgently need much better leaders!
1
I am afraid Iranian leaders are stuck in their culture of Shia Islam victimhood to the extent that they are unable to recognize where the interest of their country lies. To put it bluntly, being a victim - which is what Iranians consider themselves - does not give one a license to shoot oneself in the foot.
It is understandable that Iranians consider Mr. Trump to be an irrational bully. But there are ways of handling bullies and Iranians have been shrewd enough to do that in the past. If the only achievement from standing up to a bully is "the pride" of doing so, then the question is: is the cost - i.e. a war - justifiable?
If Iranian leaders were astute, they would look around for countries with domestic and foreign policies that have led to peace and prosperity. Next door, they have the example of Oman, a country with limited means but with good relationships with all other countries, living in peace and relative prosperity. Or, why not look at Qatar, a country that has used its oil and gas revenues to build a modern, progressive, Islamic society?
Considering Iran's glorious past, Iranian leaders may not be satisfied with what is achieved by those two countries. Then, why not look at China, a country as ancient as Iran. The Chinese were totally dominated by the West for more than a century. But they kept quiet and gradually built their country. And they stood up to the West only when they progressed to the point that they could match the West in every arena.
2
He joins a select group of tyrants that include Xi Jinping, Putin and Mitch McConnell.
4
@David:Your attempt at humor falls flat!What does Mitch McConnell have in common with Putin or the totalitarian leader in China?McConnell speaks for the Senate Republican majority and is highly competent, although he was among those who put the kibosh on health care reform and Obamacare when his lobbyists informed him to cease and desist since maintaining ACA was proving high profitable for their clients.
@David
What leaders did launch a couple of wars during their presidency?
The only one with a worse record was Slobodan Milosevic.
He started four wars...
1
@David
But Ayatollah Ali Khamenenei is the most sincere enemy of US.
Seems they got what they wanted.
@Dr Steve What was that?
How a religious leader , especially of Islam- the Koran teaches peace and not violence- could preach such hatred and violence, is beyond reason. The supreme religious leader of such a great and powerful country allows the murder of over 170 innocent airline passengers, apparently with the same disregard for human life as our own a- religious President.
We live in an increasingly insane world. Are we all dying spiritually?
2
So sorry to inform you, Supreme Leader. Your slap missed its target, but we hit ours.
5
@paul Yes it did, and has brought us nearer to war. Good move!
1
@paul, hubris like that which you demonstrate is one of the principle reasons we are far from loved in that part of the world... and elsewhere as well.
1
Iran is too enlightened to be led by this fanatic reactionary, Ali Khamenei.
The 'credit' for strengthening Khamenei against Iranian reformists, however, goes to our own fanatic reactionary, Donald Trump, who unjustifiably withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and cruelly increased the draconian sanctions on Iran.
God will never forgive Khamenei and Trump for creating all these miseries for the heroic noble people of Iran.
4
Khamenei is a disciple of the Egyptian firebrand Seyed Ghotb, he translated his book in the 60's, and his Anti-Americanism is virulent and non-compromising. His ideology allows for no middle ground, only tactical retreat when he absolutely has to, and he truly believes that he will win because America is weak and corrupt. The west needs to be united and strong against radical Islam or the future will be hazardous indeed.
5
Protesters both in Iraq and Iran risk their lives and freedom to oppose the Ayatollah's malign influence. The Iranian regime, either directly or through proxies, seek to destabilize the proto-democracies in the Middle East such as Iraq and Lebanon (and of course call for the destruction of Israel).
Neither of these countries are any where near a representative democracy, but Iran has worked over decades to create proxies in them to thwart the will of the people. Hezbollah wields power in Lebanon through the barrel of a gun, just like the militias in Iraq that threatened parliamentary members who wouldn't vote to remove coalition forces.
These countries are far from perfect, but miles ahead of the theocratic dictatorship in Iran. There is no freedom of expression or protest in Iran as we have seen over the past several weeks. Merely denouncing the Ayatollah will find you "disappeared" or dead. Politicians who oppose the government's dictates will find themselves disqualified by the religious councils that control Iran and unable to run for office.
The weak responses by the West over the decades will not stop this malign influence. Sanctions, the occasional cyber attack, proxy wars, or random assassinations have had no long term effect on Iran. There will be no peace until the Iranian people overthrow this murderous regime.
5
@Rip Murdock ". There will be no peace until the Iranian people overthrow this murderous regime." S why are you lecturing us? Tell them.
Farbeit for me to side with any Iranian official but Khamenei is absolutely correct. The existing United States government is horribly arrogant with everyone, including any American who isn't loaded, connected, or in the upper levels of corporate governance.
The Trump administration should be deeply ashamed of itself for attempting to create an international crisis to take the focus away from the well deserved impeachment trial of our grave embarrassment of a president.
4
Cue the clueless who compare Iran's supreme leader with President Trump. This is how you lose elections. You demonstrate that "enemies" and "threats" are limited to those you personally abhor and cannot see a bigger picture.
3
I'm honestly not sure God is backing either horse in this race.
4
Well, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei certainly got arrogant Donald John Trump pinned with the right adjective -- though knowing DJT as well as we do, another 50+ more caustic adjectives would have better fleshed out the remark -- but the rest is all open for discussion ...
I don't agree that We The People (who ARE America, of course) are arrogant: we're American! That's not a pejorative word.
3
@drjillshackford
This comment is indicative of the rank cowardice of the American left....
First, they caterwaulled about the killing of Qassem Soleimani - as though he were the second coming of Mother Theresa...when (as every rational person in the world already knows) he was a repugnant terrorist, actively plotting to kill Americans.
Second, they bemoaned the imminent launch of World War III, when (they were certain) the mighty Iranian regime would rain fire down on the United States...
There was only one problem with that theory: Iran is a third-rate theocracy, with an economy smaller than the state of Texas, and a military equivalent to Brazil (lower, actually, ranking 14th in the world, after Brazil's 13...https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.asp)
And so Iran fired a couple of impotent missiles harmlessly into the desert, in order to pretend, to its own people, that it was standing up to the United States.
Third, they (the American left) don't know what to do...
Donald Trump was right. He projected American power, and the Iranians (not surprisingly) cowered.
And so they are stuck.
Is the President a war monger (when war has been averted) or are they cowards?
I'll let you decide...
3
@Geronimo
"...actively plotting to kill Americans...". Where is the proof of this incendiary statement? Oh, that's right, it's classified info, just like the "proof" of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.
If the ayatollahs that rule Iran today think they have God's (aka Allah's) backing for their ungodly behavior in Iran and surrounding countries, they will be greatly disappointed when they finally meet their maker. It is true that American governments throughout the 20th century, beginning with the CIA led coup that in 1953 removed Mossadegh, the duly elected Iranian president, have behaved like "Satans". No denying that. As an American I am ashamed of America's interference in other counties' legitimate governance. But Iranian involvement now in the affairs of their Arab neighbors is no different from what they had inflicted upon them by American misbehavior.
2
@RLW "If the ayatollahs that rule Iran today think they have God's (aka Allah's) backing for their ungodly behavior in Iran and surrounding countries, they will
be greatly disappointed when they finally meet their maker. "
Have you warned them of that?
They think they have God's backing, but God told you they do not. You must tell them of that conversation -- it's the very least you can do.
We have an obligation to learn from our past, but I’m not inheriting any “shame” for what the CIA did decades ago. At this point, there’s enough evidence of former enemies evolving and forming strong, productive relationships. I’m proud of America’s ability to move forward after WWII, a far more deadly conflict. With Germany and Japan we transformed our alliances, economies and lifestyles. Clearly, Iran’s religious leaders have no capacity to evolve and will, therefore, perish under the weight of its own hatred and ideology.
1
The supreme leader solemnly addresses the all male throng in a mosque that bans females. And yes, this is 2020. The crafty leader is careful to ensure that it is as if The Almighty was speaking. Such is the fanaticism, the devotion, the wholesale giving up of ones personality, would be dissenters, rather then being emboldened to rebel against the ridiculous spiel, had better cringe and cower, should they be spotted by the CCTV cameras.
5
@Stanley Jones Yes, Stanley. But just as an aside, you should know that every all-male throng bans females. It's part of the definition.
Yogi Bera type statement
Another “spiritual” leader who preaches hatred, vengeance and violence.
4
How are they any different than the Evangelical GOP?
11
@Fromjersey Yes... GOP'ers allow women into churches, aren't killing gays, or stoning adulterers, or holding America under a theocracy... and on and on and on....
3
@Fromjersey Well, first of all they are not Republicans. And they speak different languages. They adhere to a different theology, worship in different ways, and eat different meals. Other than that they're pretty much the same.
2
@Mystery Lits
I was being facetious, but if they had full reign of this country without an opposing party keeping them in check, would they be as tolerant as you propose. I'm not sure.
2
The similarity between the Iran regime and our own Trump supreme leader is terrifying...
2
@Jct Yes, PDJT has killed 5,000 citizens and arrested/jailed 12,000 others. He has shot down a commercial airliner with 80 of our people Truly, he is 'similar as the Iran regime and as terrifying'/sarc.
The Left has truly lost their minds to hatred for DT, and they actually believed Kerry/ Obama that Iran was compliant
with JCPOA. This is the same Left that hated Reagan for defeated the Soviets without firing a
shot. How pathetic and sad!
3
@Jct Well, they both know that God supports them. They're only doing it for Him !
I saw the photo and thought they were beaming down from the Starship Enterprise from the transporter room!
3
A gentleman from Canada compared President Trump in his comment to Ayatollah Khamenei. It was very inappropriate. Iran is a totalitarian regime that had tried to acquire the nuclear weapons for the decades. The military equipment that Iran is currently in possession was provided mostly by China, Russia and North Korea. All these awful regimes have a lot of in common. President Trump was a first American president who stood up to China and his administration is vocal about the threat that China represents to the world. China has been slowly crawling into the European countries as well as Canada buying many high tech companies. For example they are co-owners of 60 biggest companies in Sweden. They bought a sea-port in Greece. Chinese are present in Africa and South America buying their resources and the list goes on. They developed a sophisticated technology, which is tested to spy on their own citizens. China soon might be more dangerous that Nazi Germany had ever been. The approach to do “nothing” about such totalitarian terrible regimes proved tragic and wrong for millions of people before and during WWII.
16
@KDz Right! We have never tried to acquire nuclear weapons from another country and we certainly do not use military equipment provided mostly by China, Russia and North Korea. We use good old Americn know-how to make our own nuclear weapons and provide our own military equipment (with a little help from our friends). And we have never (never !!) tried to buy a seaport in Greece.
Mr.Khameini, how has God helped Iran in these forty plus years? Putting a liar in power like you perhaps?
17
I feel like the room in that first picture deserves some commentary.
6
Do these people really think god cares about Iran? The whole “gods is on our side” argument show how fundamentally flawed religion is.
Is he not aware Jews, Christians and Muslims share the same god?
The Iranian people need to realize these religious zealots have done more harm to their country than anything done by the CIA.
8
@Prudence Spencer
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6 KJV
No, they don't share the same god, nor do they worship the same deity. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:5 KJV
@Frances
“Let us compare mythologies”
- Leonard Cohen-
@Prudence Spencer Heavens, any religious person must think that God cares about all of humankind. The important question is, do we care about each other?
2
Referring to the article's title I can only say:
It is the only thing they can do.
4
One sermon every 8 years. And still you are called “supreme.” Nice gig I guess.
11
@John Ramey Are you asking him to preach more?
Here is the challenge to the NYT editorial board.
Let me write five op-eds for the NY Times.
Let's see whether I can make the Ayatollahs quit their role as the supreme rulers of Iran and end their theocratical monopoly on that country.
6
@Kenan Porobic
What are you going to do with the theocracy in DC?
Start with that one and then, go worldwide!
3
@Welcome Canada
There is no theocracy in Washington DC.
They claim to believe in the capital and the leaders are acting accordinegly to that credo.
@Welcome Canada
They don't pretend to speak in God's name.
They just lie to their voters...
If even the voters know those are the promises that cannot be fulfilled, then that's just a case of an old-fashioned show consisting of dancing and acting.
Would anybody truly believe that is possible to balance the budget by cutting the taxes?!
Not after the full four decades of the identical promises...
Too bad their 'god' didn't tell Iran's missile shooters that, hey, that's a commercial airliner (note transponder), not a US drone.
12
I am amused by a leadership that landed on a plane 3 months after protesters pushed the Shah out. They killed off the students and other leaders of the democratic revolution and took over. Now, they preside over a religious oligarchy where the mullahs and their henchmen get rich while their people starve.
15
Well, as you may have read in other comments, it was all caused by Trump.
1
Well, what all this amounts to is that Putin wins again. The hand of Iran's hardliners has been strengthened. The Western Allies have been undermined, and the USA has been weakened to the point that we barely have a toe-hold there now. I bet even Putin's surprised that he's found such a useful idiot as Trump, who probably naively believes he will still get his tower in Moscow.
3
This is very strange. Why is there no mention of the hundreds of Iranian protesters killed last month for daring to protest against the government? The Basij government goons, who kill whoever they want on the street, had a field day. This is a glaring omission.
Just part of the big story missing from the pages of the Times and every Western newspaper or network for decades: the ayatollahs have killed and tortured a lot more people than the Shah and his Savak ever did. An Iranian I know says everyone there knows this but no one here. Thank you, NYT, for covering for the imams.
12
Which God?
Does he mean the one described in Revelations 1:8?
Has he or will he call for a period of mourning for the souls aboard the downed Ukrainian jetliner?
2
This is amazing.
Murders his own people by the dozen when they protest him and his government, shoots down passenger planes because he allowed commercial air travel the night he expected an air attack, tortures people who disagree with his policies, nurtures, arms and trains people to go wage wars in Iraq, Syria, Israel, and more; gets paid billions for peace by Obama, uses that cash to rearm and restart his nuclear program.
But God is guiding his hand?
I am sorry people of Iran.
We understand it's this crazy loon and his folk, and not you the regular folk, that is driving your country off the cliff.
I truly hope for a better future for you, the proud Iranian people, without this crazy religious zealot and his cadre.
8
A missile strike vetted by God? I’m curious. Was that the same God that said go for it, shoot down the passenger jet filled with Iranians? Because if it was, I just can’t wait for the ayatollah to get himself some nukes. Think about it. Delusional geriatric fanaticism combined with long-range thermonuclear weapons. What could possibly go wrong?
9
Despite Iran's ridiculous "supreme leader" the people (in the major cities) really are far more educated and sophisticated that any other population found in the middle east.
They would have made a far more suitable ally than Saudi Arabia...
7
@Boral
Well, they were an ally until Democrat Jimmy Carter threw the Shah under the bus 40 years ago.
Something about Savak and human rights abuses so virtue-signaling Democrats couldn’t have that in a strategic ally.
Now we have an enemy regime that hangs homosexuals from cranes, buries women up to their chests and throws rocks at their heads to execute them, and spreads murderous mayhem through the Middle East.
But, hey! That was good enough for Barack Obama and his crack foreign policy team! The Donald? He disapproves.
4
@Boral
That's a false choice. There was no option to partner with Iranians outside the regime.
We didn't "side" with the Saudis. We engaged with those in the region to push back the likes of Suleimani.
1
Let’s see: the Iranian leader said God allowed Iran to slap the face of the Inited States. What do Trump’s evangelical supporters say about that statement? Moreover, what is the position of the evangelical schools and Baptist seminaries on that statement? Who holds the truth card here? Just ask Don Trump. 2020 in an Election year and Don wants the White House. Simple.
@brownpelican28
Was the Supreme Leader referring to The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or to another figure?
2
@Frances Huh? I think he said "a slap to U S's image as a superpower." At least, that's what this article quoted. You did read the article, didn't you?
The killing of Soleimani has scared Iran and this is how it showing it's fear. Iran (Government) is scared and the Iranians know it. The people in the pictures are the same ones that show up to the big Friday prayers (free food and free bus rides to the demonstrations.)
4
Clearly Trump has made the world a safer place.
3
". . . telling tens of thousands of chanting worshipers that God’s backing had allowed his country to “slap the face” of the United States."
Good grief. Any country which holds a religious ideology that their god has their back when it comes to inflicting harm to others is about as dangerous as it gets.
6
This is literally America.
2
@Marge Keller Have you ever read the bible? Lots of countries have done that for thousands of years.
Almost every country that has ever gone to war has done so because God wanted them to.
2
There is something about world leaders putting themselves in a trance for the world to see, whether it be Tehran or the Oval Office, that seems extraordinarily silly.
4
The very existence of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei epitomises all that is wrong with this grotesquely iniquitous regime.
4
Love the Photo. All men, mostly Old Men. Looks like the GOP.
Sad.
6
Saudi Arabia has been the driving force behind the proliferation of Islamic extremism worldwide
They have dispersed extremist imams and "textbooks," like a virus, to schools from Bosnia to Kenya. Preaching intolerance and the sacrifice of family and self in exchange for rewards in the great beyond.
They are the reason why nations that were once Muslim but largely secular now find themselves grappling with Wahhabi cults and terrorism.
Iran, which also exerts influence, has at least never bought into or tried to disseminate this insane brand of Islam.
And yet we brand Iran as the greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world because...the Saudis are our friends.
12
Iran maybe havee slapped America, but in the process shot itself in the foot.
4
Must be a pretty sick deity in Iran that rejoices in a slap that kills 176 innocent airline passengers. I’m not saying that the United States doesn’t bear guilt in this, but can’t we stop with some crackpot leader in Iran or here bring a deity into the equation?
2
First off, how Iran runs it's country is their business, not ours. It is not for the United States to police the politics of other countries. However it is not really politics we are talking about here, it is the control of oil. I want to ask the American People one question. If a foreign power came into the United States and did this to us, what we have done to Iran, how would the American people respond?
2
Iran's "Supreme Leader" is trying to coalesce his people together. After the assassination of Sulemani and the downing of the Ukranian airline by Iran, they do not want to appear weak or available to attack. The demonstrators, likely, in their opinion, are making their theocracy weaker. It is difficult to know when the forces of pro-democracy will become stronger for Iran, but it will help if we do not kill their leaders, so the U.S becomes the problem.
1
Iran's downing of a civilian airliner with ballistic missiles provides ample evidence that leaders of that country cannot be trusted to have nuclear missiles under their control.
5
@Andrew Allen We have actually had an airliner shot down here in the U S. Is that "ample evidence" that our Congress and the White House cannot be trusted?
No country should have nukes. Any country could end up with a clown. Look at us.
1
Interesting that all the pro government crowds are all men, including at the very poorly planned funeral. At the memorials for the plane crash victims and the anti government protests we see both men and women.
2
@M Davis That's just the way it is in some ethnic/religious circles.
Rarely were squaws to be seen in early Navajo rituals, for example.
And sometimes their funerals were very poorly planned. (I think the U S cavalry may have had something to do with that.)
Somehow though, the burials did get done, even in Oklahoma.
There has to be a way to break this endless loop of chest-thumping insanity on the part of the Mullah's ruling Iran and the part of the neo-cons in our country who have a mega-warped view of the power of the United States to force regime change at the butt of weaponry. Iran by all accounts, has a majority under 35 age population, the majority of whom do not support the conservative, aggressive religious regime, and, is dealing with increasingly devastating effects of climate change and water issues. It seems logical that more carrots than sticks/drones would yield results that would actually improve the lives of the Iranian people. Why is this such a radical idea? It seems to be a central tenet of life in the US that access to economic advancement is key to a prosperous stable society. Is that a vector only good for the west? Don't think so. Of course I don't think our impetuous President is up to that task.
6
@Sally Peabody There was, the Iran deal. It brought Iranians into contact with the Western world and helped elect a wave of moderates.
Trump's recent actions have assured that hardliners will sweep the next election.
2
@tlasa I think I'm basically on your side here, but . . . what actually "brought Iranians into contact with the Western world" was the rise of the Western-educated Pahlevi as Shah of Iran in the wake of WW2.
And what "it helped" was the profitability of the U S and British petroleum companies that took possession of Iran's oil fields and distribution channels.
No need to thump our chests too vigorously on this one.
1
Our duty as the citizens of this world is to theoretically dismantle the Iranian theocracy.
This objective cannot be accomplished by the military power or the guided missiles.
It could be easily accomplished by the superior understanding and implementation of the Book without a single bullet or a boot on the ground.
1
The supreme leader is not the problem in Iran, the problem is the more than 150K members of the IRG.
They are a huge and greedy organization and even the removal of the supreme leader will not induce them to give up their collective gravy train and allow Iran to return to a democracy.
I grieve for Tehran's young population because their situation seems almost hopeless. Even if they succeed in overthrowing the mullahs, they may well have military rule to contend with.
7
Wow, that's quite a collective delusion. Reality and sanity seem to be losing.
3
We killed an Iranian government official at a civilian airport in Iraq. (An official who was instrumental in defeating ISIS in Iraq snd whose worst excesses Iran was working to constrain.) Technically this is an act if war and nothing to celebrate. Trump has put us at the mercy of Iran's self restraint and respect for international law - an unenviable position. Iran has a long history and plays a long game.
We supported Iraq's war against Iran. Now thanks to the incompetent Bush Cheney Rumsfeld invasion of Iraq, Iran dominates its former enemy.
The Persian national epic (ca 11CE) advises rather than raze an enemy city, appoint an incompetent corrupt leader who will destroy it himself. Iran has formidable cyber capabilities.
Game On 2020. Vote Blue No Matter Who.
1
One wonders about the photo that heads this piece.
I've seen such photos before.
The monolithic and supposed-to-be "awesome" looking cadre of stern (or I dunno - some of these guys look beaten down, which sounds about right for legalistic religion) mullahs and like-minded Shias, which, one wonders, if it is supposed to frighten or what.
I weary SO of these kinds of legalistic religions that oppress and hinder their adherents in a cultish haze and breed fanatics and zealots plenty. They are at once a curse to their own adherents, and a blight upon the world.
And what bothers me most is the transparency of it all. They oppress and KILL their own people. Their economy is in bad shape because of the numerous sanctions that the U.S. and perhaps also the world, have imposed. They probably can't prosecute a war because they're in such bad shape economically, and there is so much distrust and unrest against them by their own people.
And yet here they look just SO monolithic. So united. So full of purpose.
I mean.
As if.
1
@Jake
In your statement, “ I weary SO of these kinds of legalistic religions that oppress and hinder their adherents in a cultish haze and breed fanatics and zealots plenty. They are at once a curse to their own adherents, and a blight upon the world.”, you could be referring to the mass of Fundamentalist “Christians” in the US. Easy to point the finger elsewhere, just saying.
Radical religious fundamentalists are a blight on the world everywhere.
2
It's sad to think what Iran could have been where it not for American/British intervention.
2
@tlasacurev
You mean, of course, the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Iran during WWII.
1
Goodness. The ayatollahs took over in 1979! They’ve had plenty of time to create a successful nation. They own it.
1
Poor God, he/she always gets dragged into these things. Each side says god is on their side. Really! Invoking god as being on one side versus the other side only highlights the failure of man’s creation, religion, the concept behind untold death, destruction and persecution. Somehow, being on one side versus the other side is not what god does.
1
Is it just me or can anyone take people seriously when they are chanting death to America and putting American flags on the floor. These are supposed to be leaders and they just murdered a plane full of people, including children, and I can see them sitting around a table congratulating the guy who came up with the idea of laying the American flags at the doorway. “Great idea!” If that is not a reason to vote, I don’t know what is. Of course, I write this and I’m thinking Trump is just about in the same category. Sad, very sad for all of us.
1
Iran remains well positioned in Iraq, Syria,Yemen and Lebanon, and is likely to renew and intensify asymmetrical attacks on our Middle East interests and military personnel. Assassinating its top general after withdrawing from the JCPOA (that was working) and slapping on sanctions are strategic blunders that are already returning to haunt us. The world is become even more of a dangerous place.
11
@the doctor
The size of a balloon doesn't matter as long as it is filled up with a hot air.
1
Will every Democratic candidate be willing to answer the following question: will you pledge that Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons if you are elected president?
In 2020, we may argue about political philosophy or the separation of religion and state, but we can all agree that the regime in Iran should never possess nuclear weapons; nor should we enter into agreements that make the regime stronger but fail to permanently curtail their pursuit of nuclear weapons.
8
Sanctions are no way to moderate Iran. It will only ensure a landslide by the hardliners during the next election. Of course, that's what some in the West want to ensure another excuse for war.
13
@Gus Gloop
And besides criticizing the policies in place, what is your suggestion as to the right way. I hear criticism but no solutions.
2
@Gus Gloop
The opposit (no sanctions) did no work, that's for sure.
Let's see this new approach, you cannot tell in advance it doesn't work, this is bias against Trump.
And actually we can see that they worked "strangling "Iran's economy, otherwise be sure Iran would react differently to Soleimani's killing !
1
@bored critic The Iran deal WAS the solution, and we threw it away.
5
In all of these pictures of formal Iranian gatherings, etc. how many women do you see in the ranks? Why anyone pays any respect to such a regime, culture, or whatever it may be is beyond me.
25
@Ryan
Regime, yes. I agree with you.
But culture? There are millions of good people who are just like you and me who live there. I don't agree with the fact that they view women as unable to hold office, but they have been taken over and guided in a bad direction by religious leaders. It wasn't that long ago that they were much more metropolitan. I feel sorry for them and look forward to the day when they become more progressive.
10
@Ryan
you are dismissing the efforts of women throughout the muslim world. and islam is only part of iranian culture and iran is only recently ruled by religious authority.
american women are still fighting for equal rights and representation.
3
@K No only unable to hold office, but unable to go out dressed as they want, with whom they want and and and....
The assassination of Suleimani was an overwhelming victory for the U.S.. We attacked Iran, not its proxies, and the response was worse than meaningless-it demonstrated the Iranians are inept and liars. Instead of Iranian unity it produced mass protests.
Khameini can try to spin this defeat. But Trump's policies are working.
The Democrats demonstrated they are at best foolish and at worst damaging to our national security.
The WSJ called Biden's version of the Obama Iran policy "rainbows and lollipops". The references to the Iran Deal as "working" ignore it was meaningless. Even if Iran complied it only prevented the building of a nuclear weapon for 10 years; half of which is over. It did nothing to prevent the building of more powerful and accurate ballistic missiles and writing on them in Hebrew "we will annihilate you". Biden and Obama chose to ignore this clear violation of the UN Charter.
It did nothing to stop the terror and espionage apparatus they built in South America or destabilizing their neighbors.
Instead it gave them millions in untraceable cash delivered in the middle of the night (whether it was theirs doesn't address that it enabled terrorists like Hezbollah), billions in trade, and not a single dissident or hostage released.
Trump may not change the regime but he is denying it cash and preventing the mullahs from pursuing their objectives. He's produced mass demonstrations and unmasked the cruelty of this regime. Europe agrees.
Godspeed Donald!
34
@HGreenberg
A couple of thousand protestors vs 7 million mourners for the General in Tehran alone.
Europe emphatically disagrees with us. The whole world is against us.
I’m not sure where you came up with your impressions.
3
Amazing you’re able to crawl out from under your bed to compose all this right-wing blather. You guys had no fear of trashing that 15 year non proliferation agreement because you knew we could handle Iran. Well guess what, we could have handled Iran in 15 years, at the end of the agreement, just as readily. Nobody has ever been able to develop nuclear weaponry under the watchful eye of the IAEA, the most authoritative nuclear watchdog ever devised by humankind and modern technology.
Under Republican rule we have become proxy fighters for Israel. Back them should they ever become heartened —- sure, but let them make and pay for their own war and peace in today’s world.
3
@HGreenberg
Absolute nonsense. The agreement was working, in the years of the agreement a new generation of Iranians was taking hold with more peaceful and democratic ideas. To renege on the agreement was just plain stupid.
3
1. They shut down internet a month ago when they need to oppress the people's voice. They broadcast the nonsense when needed. They get rewarded for the news coverage.
2. Bashing this clan is not an approval of Trump. Or vice versa.
3. Are they standing in a spaceship? (next Star Wars teaser campaign)
17
@PB After Trump's warning not to kill their own protesters and not to shut down Internet, Iran had to comply with it !
Not noticed ?
Of course, he could care less about all those innocent people his countrymen killed when they shot down a commercial airline. Its all about 'slapping the face' of the bogeyman. What a ruthless monster--the mirror image of the one in Washington, whose crocodile tears neither console anyone, nor fool them into thinking he cares either. Why should we care what such heartless excuses for human beings think about anything? They con't really care about any of us anyway.
16
I can’t wait to see President Buttigieg take this guy on.
10
@John Doe
Buttigieg could not even handle the tensions in his town, when interviewed he sat there like a deer in the headlights and had no coherent reply.
His own city is still hurting because of his police treatment of minorities.
And you think he has the guts to face off Iran?
Yea, run Buttigieg for president please, we need a quick end to this 4 year election campaign.
3
Ah yes, "god" helped us. Heck, I even frequently see that "he" helps sports teams and players as well.
When is modern mankind going to outgrow primitive superstitions?
19
When man is able to let go of the power and authority that "he" grants them.
2
“Mr. Khamenei offered only scant condolences to the families who lost relatives in the crash, ...”
In this Mr. Khamenei is no different than Mr. Trump. Neither really care about the lives lost as long as they can maintain their positions.
138
@Perverse
One difference: Khamenei didn't pose smiling with a "thumbs up" at the crash site.
20
@Kokoy
Trump may yet have a thumbs up opportunity.
Social media is buzzing with questions.
The electronic warfare (EW) technology that the United States has developed in recent years it is entirely feasible for enemy military radars to be “spoofed” by phantom objects. One such EW developed by the Pentagon is Miniature Air-Launched Decoy (MALD) which can create deceptive signals on enemy radar systems of incoming warheads.
The videographer of the 19-second clip showing a missile striking Flight PS752 shortly after take-off from Tehran’s airport at around 6.15 am, remains silent during the filming while smoking a cigarette (the smoke briefly wafts over the screen), is standing in the suburb of Parand looking northwest. His location was verified by the NY Times using satellite data. The rapid way the newspaper’s technical resources were marshaled raises a curious question about how a seemingly random video submission was afforded such punctilious attention.
The question many people on social media are asking is: why was this “videographer” standing in a derelict industrial area outside Tehran at around six o’clock in the morning with a mobile phone camera training on a fixed angle to the darkened sky? The airliner is barely visible, yet the sky-watching person has the camera pointed and ready to film a most dramatic event, seconds before it happened.
2
@Lucy Cooke
Wow. So much supposition and gnarly hypothesis. Secret EW decoy weapons, mysterious smoke wafting, silent videographer (wearing a tinfoil hat).
So it wasn’t just your standard surveillance or security warehouse camera.
Thanks for the heads up.
Still blaming Trump are we? Time to move on. The world has acknowledged that Suleimani was the longest running and most influentiall terrorist in recent history.
Time for Trump's critics to acknowledge his death was not a mistake.
28
@AACNY Yes, and he'll always be part of the problem--from withdrawing from the nuclear monitoring to all that followed, including the Iranians shooting down a commercial airliner full of innocent people, Trump is implicated. He didn't pull the proverbial trigger, he just loaded the weapon. But nobody expects the true-believers who follow his every action with adoration to ever agree with that--to everyone else's enduring sorrow.
9
@AACNY
And the world has also acknowledged that his death did nothing but provoke a country bent on the possession of nuclear weapons.
Suleimani was replaced immediately by someone of the same line of thinking, now with even more reason to carry out any attacks they may or may not have already been planning. It's not like we killed a terrorist and the terror just... stopped. He wasn't the head of an unsophisticated terrorist organization that devolved into chaos without its leader, he was a general of an ancient civilization with an understudy waiting in the wings.
It absolutely was a mistake. It provoked aggression that cost the lives of an airplane full of people, the entire world was holding its breath waiting to see if the two sides would escalate to full-fledged war (thank goodness Trump started listening to cooler heads), and it practically wrote IS's recruiting material for them.
2
@PeterS, nobody is saying Trump is perfect, he’s just not Satan as Democrats would like to make him out to be because he’s not Obama. Dems just got to learn that just what they want is not all that matters in the world.
3
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: God’s backing made us to do it.
US: "In God we trust."
Sound familiar.
The religious based Republicans in office and their Evangelical supporters also base their whole political thinking process on similar chants as those made by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
23
@Gerry O'Brien It's difficult to decide who's crazier and more delusional.
2
The nations of the world seem to be led today by “bully boys,” boys being the operative word.
They lead with a big mouth, vituperative language and a sense of entitlement that extends primarily to themselves and doesn’t extend to the care of their citizens. Heading up powerful militaries they play with the lives of everyone on the planet.
20
Don’t be so sure about “boys” vs “bully” being the operative word. I recall Margaret Thatcher having a little adventure in the Falkland Islands.
3
Its time to change the regime in Iran. The sad part of this is that we will need to wait for overwhelming loss of life for support for something like this. For our safety we need to either change the regime or completely or let the oppressive regime crush the people there. There is no middle ground where the world is safe. If we meddle in the affairs of the oppressors we risk the terror attacks. If we do nothing we allow brutal oppression. The people protesting the lies about the airliner that was shot down were suppressed with tear gas and bullets. Sickening.
8
@Mark, are you enlisting to fight? Do you realize this was the exact reasoning behind the disastrous invasion of Iraq? Overthrowing Saddam by force plunged the entire region into violence and chaos with an enormous explosion of terrorism, with thousands of American soldiers dead and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, and the birth of ISIS. Enough of this ‘we have to destroy the village to save the village’ absurdist mentality.
18
@Mark Regime change is exactly the sort of imperialism we (and others) engage in, that leads to anti-Americanism in the first place. Why do you think they hate us (and the Europeans) anyway? In the case of Iran it was placing the Shah in power, over a duly elected government. It was supporting the Iraquis war with Iran. Its supporting the Saudis. And why do we do this? OIL. OIL. OIL.
2
@Mark And you think bulldozing into their country to "change the regime" is going to fix all that?
We have COUNTLESS examples showing that it won't. How many more do you need before you finally give up and admit that you can't "fix" another country by forcing them at the end of a barrel to think like you? They won't see you as the white savior you want to be, but just the next generation of oppressors.
1
All of this -- repeat 'ALL' of this -- because our own would-be ayatollah quashed an agreement among many nations that had lightened Middle East concerns, a little. It was a start, and showed that the US, Europe, and Iran could negotiate effectively.
Trump, radical as they come, "just had to be me" -- and ruined a pretty good start. Purely unilaterally, for ego and his servile base.
How can there be any doubt that continued hard work on all issues involving Iran could have led to a much more peaceful set of results? There are two prime issues: Israel, and US Middle East meddling. These could be solved, to everyone's great benefit. But it takes more than menacing,
21
@Feldman: Trumpism is nihilism. Trump smashes things and then says "Let's see what happens" without a clue what will happen.
12
@Steve Bolger I suspect Trump could write down for you 1000 pages explaining his strategy and you would find the way to say something him.
Just a suspect...
Trump write a thousand pages? Hahahaha! He’s probably never even READ a cumulative thousand pages over the course of his lifetime.
What was God trying to say to the Ayatollah when 50+ Iranian mourners were crushed at the funeral and when 82 more were killed as a result of an Iranian mistake?
The US may have been slapped in the face but Iran was bent over the knee and spanked.
Sometimes the message is lost in the translation.
19
Iran is a textbook example of religious extremism and how it completely eradicates common sense, to say nothing of compassion for one’s own people.
20
@Larry: Establishment of religious laws in the US is the objective of the "Federalist Society" of state's rights advocates stocking the federal judiciary under Mitch McConnell's tutelage.
11
@Larry
US Christian evangelicals, joyously looking forward to "end times" is extreme and devoid of compassion.
1
Oh my God, that picture. It looks like the world's most intense line dance in the world's greatest disco.
20
@David Who knew they'd take the "Argo" storyboards to heart?
4
@David
Disco Disco!
They seem to be competing in the world wide Dance Dance Revolution contest.
And all of them put together have less IQ and respect for humanity than a disco ball.
Iran learned a lesson it will not soon forget. It saw very clearly and up real close the reach and precision of the U.S. military. It learned when you sow the wind you may reap the whirlwind. After shooting down the airliner it's Foreign Minister had to admit to the Iranian people calling for death to the dictator and the world that they had lied. I predict that in six months to a year they will resume back channel talks with us and make an agreement that we can accept and is in their best interest: removal of sanctions which will lead to their prosperity and peace in return for removal of any sunset clause, improved inspections and cessation of missile testing. The result of the killing of Sulleimani will be peace not war.
13
@alan brown
Agree. And that was the purpose of it. Of course many americans are unable or refuse to see it or accept it.
9
@alan brown
I love how you think Iran was just stupid and didn't already know the US's capability.
Or that it required killing a major general and threatening escalating tensions (including the lives lost in the aftermath) in order to get Iran back to a table they WERE ALREADY AT.
1
@K Look I never said Iran was stupid but the smartest people sometimes learn painful lessons. Napoleon was not stupid, Hitler was not stupid, neither was Tojo or Harvard-Educated Yamamoto. To be clear I'm not saying the Iranians are like those cited just making a point about smart people do dumb things. Evidently it did require killing the General to bring home the point that terrorism (and this General was on Obama's list of terrorists as well) will not succeed. They were not at any table. That was 5 years ago and that agreement by Obama was not a binding treaty because President Obama did not have the required votes for it.
I just watched Khamenei give a public speech, saying many of the same things, a few weeks ago, after the fracas. He was seated in a chair on a stage and talking to a large crowd of people in a very measured, conversational tone. It was notable in my mind how measured his comments were.
5
I find some of these comments, scolding Iran for its proxy wars interesting.
Particularly how Iran trying to exert influence throughout the region is described as sowing chaos but when we do it we are merely protecting our interests.
Given the events of the Iran-Iraq war, where we helped fund a regime raining chemical warfare down on the Iranian people, it makes sense that Iran would want some influence over their neighbors.
My question is, what are WE doing there, wasting time, money and lives fighting in wars older than our nation.
209
@Halboro Israel. We're not even as reliant on Saudi oil any more. We are there almost exclusively because of Israel at this point.
86
@Halboro. No one would object if Iran had “some” influence over its neighbors. Iran seeks dominance and subjection which is something altogether different. That is why we see protests in Iraq and Lebanon, not just in Iran denouncing this dangerous and unsustainable adventurism. Pity the Syrians, though, their slaughter at the hands of the IRGC, Hezbollah and Assad has been so great that they cannot even protest.
2
@Charlie in NY Charlie, I have to wonder if your pity extends to the people of Yemen, the genocide in that country is largely funded and enabled by us.
And no one denies that Iran is wrong to try and exert influence where they are not wanted but, like the U.S., they bring good (fighting ISIS) with the bad.
I don't see how they demand any more dominance than us, a nation that refused to leave Iraq after their parliament demanded it.
56
Couldn’t help but think thats the stage for the new Star Trek musical
15
@Toby
G-R-E-A-T comment and so spot on!!!
1
Not to be critical, but that photo looks like a 1970's Hollywood sci-fi set. I thought for a moment it was a promo for yet another cheesy Star Wars movie.
6
@Andrew If you look closely, I'm pretty sure there's a guy in the back holding a Light Sabre.
7
Khamenei is a paper tiger. He is whistling in the dark. He is the guy that stands on a curb yelling insults he cannot and will not back up. One more drone and he could be vapor.
9
Arrogant is right. The imminent threat Pompeo touted warranted strikes against Iraq before Soleimani's death. 50 Iraqi soldiers died. Then action taken again for "imminent" and Soleimani killed. Then Pompeo says “It’s never one thing…It’s collective. It’s a full situational awareness of risk and analysis”. SO it wasn't imminent--America acts on whim and decides later how to define destruction. IF this isn't Arrogant and total lack of respect for Humanity--WHAT IS!
16
@TWShe Said
Iran's threat was SO imminent, that Trump roamed the halls of his resort, Mar-a-Lago,and started dropping hints to close associates and club-goers that something "huge" was coming.
So his golf buddies and service workers were "informed" but not Congress.
8
There's no doubt that Iran is a repressive and tyrannical, controlled by theocratic fanatics. But there's also no doubt that that by withdrawing from the nuclear deal and then killing Suleimani, Trump and his cronies have kicked the hornet's nest. Although it is comforting to believe that Iran's strikes on American bases was their only retort, it's highly likely that there will be additional violence - either directly by Iran or by their proxies. The world is definitely NOT a safer place since Trump took these actions.
12
Khamenei is in a fight for his political life after the latest events. Rather than taking the blame and acting for forgiveness, he has gone out with his same familiar rhetoric. Whilst Trump was really dumb in giving the go ahead to assassinate the Iranian general on Iraqi soil furthering enabling the factions that support Iran there, Khamenei has done little to win the hearts and minds of his people. I predict his reign will be over shortly, as Trump's will be in November, negating this episode in history.
5
I’m trying to remember a single instance of Trump ‘taking the blame and asking for forgiveness.’ It seems that is just not how it is done.
Again, set and costumes look like what the recent Star Wars movies should have looked more like. Did Disney miss opportunities to go on location in Iran? It must be an excellent place for movie production.
5
@Das Ru Absolutely. Checkout "Argo".
1
Mr. Trump is damaging not only the United States but the entire world. Anyone who can't see this is wearing blinders. Please accelerate the impeachment proceedings before we reach a "point of no return"!
6
History and an honest assessment of where we stand in the Middle East in the age of Trump can best be summarized this way: we have looked in the mirror and the enemy is us.
6
This is so by far NOT the most important story of the day. In fact, it belongs way down the page. We have big doings in our own country.
3
Yes, like kick out of office another « God put me there » guy..
I wish rebukes from our supreme leader were rare in frequency as well.
6
"Mr. Khamenei offered only scant condolences to the families who lost relatives in the crash."
Khamenei's scan condolences is not good enough! He along with Trump are responsible for the killing of 176 innocent persons.
3
Iran is a theocracy. A "theocracy" is a government that will and does lie to all of the most ignorant, vulnerable, and gullible members of its society to obtain and maintain power, status, and wealth.
That's right; what virtually all religions do. Iran is worse than the US, since it applies this cynical deception to governing. Sure, there are some people in the US who seek to do this, too, but by-and-large we have shielded our government from the overwhelmingly adverse effects of superstition, fairy tales, and medieval nonsense.
It's a shame, however, when people like Trump help the Iranian mullahs to cement their hold on power by justifying their "sermons" and the popular support for the Ayatollah's crazy conspiracy theories and his claims of divine, supernatural intervention. However, we also empower such craziness, every time we allude to "divine, supernatural intervention" of our own creation (i.e., Christianity, Judaism, or the like).
The Iranian people (not their "leaders") are generally advanced, and interested in modernity and progress. This is their cultural history. We should be doing all we can to help wean them away from the pillars of oppression, superstition, and tyranny in their government. Instead, our current regime seems to be doing the very opposite. How could we be so thoughtless and counter-productive, in our dealings with Iran and its people?
10
@AM
How did trump help iranian mullahs cement their hold on power? He did the opposite by taking out their greatest tool. The iranian theocracy strengthens its hold on the people when they make shows if strength. When they successfully attack US ships, bases, soldiers and embassies and tell the people, Allah is with us. That is what strengthens their hold on the people. We took out their top general to lessen their ability to execute successful attacks and what did the iranian people do? They protested their govt and leadership. Seems to me, trump completely undermined their authority.
6
@bored critic: The recent protests in Tehran were mostly about the airline tragedy. Iranians still have protest in them.
Trump aids the Ayatollah by reaffirming the US's interference in Iran's sovereignty (like with Mossadegh). The General was a gov't official; unlike bin Laden et al. People always align with their own gov't against such external attacks - we would! Trump uses ridiculous, threatening language, telling Iranians that they need a militaristic gov't for their own defense. By reneging on the Nuclear Deal, Trump authorized Iran to re-arm, which his saber-rattling seems to make appropriate.
We should be appealing to elements in Iran that support democracy, with kinship to the West (Iran mourned on 9/11). We should promote the benefits of Western commerce and culture. Not every Iranian is ready for that, but many are. Instead, they hear "axis of evil" incitements from the US.
We should honor Iran's long history of philosophy, science, math, art and film. We should encourage dissident Iranians to overthrow reactionary religious leaders who stifle their cultural and economic growth. We should be welcoming them to the World's free market of ideas and trade.
Instead, we isolate them, and cause them to rely on brutal leaders, as a bulwark against perceived/actual threats from the US. In the long-run, the Iranian people would hear our encouragements and overthrow their oppressors themselves. That's the only lasting way in which political process is made, anyway.
We should leave these people alone.
The Persians have not started a war in more than 300 years and they are not about to do it now.
9
@Full Name (required)
Of course they didn't.
Why?
Because the Persians are running the same war over the last fourteen centuries.
So technically you are right but substantially wrong.
The Sunnis and the Shiites are fighting each other from the 7th century.
Although both sides claim to be the believers there is no such schism in the Qur'an.
By the way, there is no Qur'an.
There is only the set of principles prescribed by God. The Almighty named it just " the Book"
The title Qur'an and the name of every chapter in it are the human choice and selection. Even the order of the verses, meaning the internal organization, was a human choice.
In true faith only the facts matter...
2
Facing up to aggression, whether it be schoolyard bullies or international terrorism, always carries an element of risk. That risk must be borne because as everyone who has ever faced down a schoolyard bully knows, reason and negotiating are pointless. How do politicians and “statesmen” not know what most school children know?
4
But, but, but Donald Trump told us “All is well!”
He wouldn’t lie would he?
Trump’s supporters probably believed him! And come to find out, 11 Americans WERE injured.
Nothing is the truth with Trump and everything is a lie. And there will be consequences. The rest of the world, including Iran, is not going to put up with Trump - even if the United States does....
5
@MIMA
Treated for concussion symptoms
I struggle to actually refer to that as "injured".
If you get a paper cut do you say you were "wounded" at work?
1
I appreciate everyone’s responses, but I just want to say that that ceiling is amazing.
8
I went there once. I don’t care how sweet the ceiling is. A $20 mojito is stupid.
4
The United States needs to give up on the illusion that it is the puppeteer and every other country dances on its strings to its tune. We cast Cuba into the hellfire of economic sanctions sixty years ago and they have yet to come crawling back, begging forgiveness.
The United States has some great ideals, but we have not even achieved those ideals for our own citizens. How can we expect others to follow a path we cannot even conquer.
We are one country among many on a planet facing catastrophe. Cooperation may be the only way to avoid annihilation.
7
@Maureen Steffek
And you think Iran intends to cooperate with anyone? "Death to America, death to the infidels". Does that sound like they are capable of cooperation?
1
If this becomes a religious war, they never end. Much better to keep religion out of it, at least from the US side. Better to stay calm. lower the hate content. It is easy to slip into this religious confrontational madness. The ingredients are there already, on both sides. Don't go there.
6
Two presidents let Suleimani live because their "advisers" had them believe it would start a war. Hundreds of our military lost their lives and thousand more wounded by him and those killed, wounded and amputeed, are squarely on those president's shoulders. Trump gave those wounded military and the families of the dead something the other presidents passed on. He chose not to respond after Iran shot down our drone. He decided that killing 100 or more should not be done when we lost no lives. He didn't attack when they threw rockets in Saudi oil fields or when they attacked shipping. But when they sent rockets that killed an American and they stormed our embassy, he killed Suleimani and no more Americans will die or be maimed because of him. Iran sent 20 rockets which did minimal damage and no Americans suffered even the slightest injury. Then they announce publicly they were finished responding. The also had three other sources make sure Trump got the message. They knew that we had resources in the area to bring huge damage to them by air that were in place. In the meantime 52 Ukrainians were killed and over 200 wounded by their own people during the funeral and they they shot down an airplane that killed 179 people. Trump passed more sanctions and now France an Germany are getting ready to impose even more sanctions. Their economy already brought protest against the government and now protests because of the downing of the air plan. All of this and we are not at war.
17
@Ron
Of ye of little faith: both leaders will find surely a path to war if you give them the time. Besides, Iran will increase its asymmetrical warfare as we are about to experience.
2
@AG They have been using surrogates all along and asymmetrical warfare. But now they won't have Suleimani to lead them. To stop that, we would have to have a war that left them a wasteland. Does anyone think, with their economy failing and their government killing protesters, that the average Iranian wants to give himself to avenge Suleimani?
1
The speech was a poor attempt at making Iran look strong despite a relatively weak response to the assassination.
“Iran’s supreme leader struck a defiant tone in a rare public sermon on Friday, calling the United States an “arrogant power” and telling tens of thousands of chanting worshipers that God’s backing had allowed his country to “slap the face” of the United States.”
14
Trust me, I'm quite sure they're not finished.
2
I worry ultimately about the kind of conflict two highly narcissistic leaders -- in this case -- could breed, without a commitment to negotiation, which is clearly lacking. The need to prove his macho power might still lead Trump to override any advisor's good sense and pull us further into Middle Eastern struggle. Khamenei's religious zealotry might likewise flare into unthinkable consequences as a result.
Conservatives who praise Trump's style of 'leadership' should worry not only about the U.S. and another needless war in the Middle East -- but about launching a global cataclysm from which no one can pull back.
12
@SGK
Who are the advisers with good sense Trump has? His advisers are sycophants at best. Pompeo is a fanatic neocon without respect for other nations' legitimate rights, among other issues.
5
He's just another of the many essentially bad people that have become the "leaders" of their countries. It is as though the countries of the world are in a contest to show which one can have the worst person in charge. It's a very tight race and there are lots of contenders (to the misfortune of most).
17
@Rich
What harm has Iran done to the USA? What exactly is the USA doing in the ME? The US has created havoc in the ME, the sanctions do harm to the whole region all the way into Europe.
8
@ARL
Iran held our neutral hostages from our embassy for over a year for starters. How about all those IED's supplied to terrorists that blew apart our soldiers as we foolishly tried to assist installing democracy in Iraq? No one is blameless.
5
@AG
USA staged a coup in Iran, ousting the democratically elected ruler. It's your mess to begin with.
The US does not want peace with Iran, otherwise we would have nurtured a relationship with their moderates as Obama and Kerry successfully initiated. Instead, this administration is making the moderates look like fools for trusting us. “Never again” is the lesson out of Iran, and warmongers here are barely able to contain their joy.
We want war. Israel wants war. How much clearer can it be?
Without a strong anti-war movement, and without media providing context when talking about Iran, we are likely to stumble into the mother of all military blunders. The human cost will be catastrophic, the moral cost incalculable.
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@A. Simon
The rulers are extreme. What moderates are you talking about?
Moderates are shot dead by these people for protesting.
6
@Tall Tree
The ruler is old. He will pass. Most Iranians are actually moderate, highly educated and eager to join the West. There is a major synagogue in Tehran
And a seat in their parliament for a Jewish party. Did you know that? Does our ally Saudi Arabia have such a seat?
Why alienate the Iranian people by cutting off access to chemotherapy, vital medicines, closing their businesses to international markets, and celebrating as their economy collapses?
Leadership points to US for causing the people’s misery. Their ire turns outward, rightly so. Sanctions are economic war. People die.
That is the plan, killing enough Iranians that they lash out against us, and then we use that response for all out “defensive” war. It’s plain as day, only the willfully ignorant don’t see it.
3
The actions of both governments demonstrate that they agreed that, following the assassination, Iran would strike back in a loud but non-lethal manner and that would be the end of the confrontation. This explains why Iran continued to allow airline activity. The Iranian government was not in position to tell its air defense forces that there was a deal and so they shot down the airliner. Khamenei's problem now is that the citizens can see that the fix was in and that Iran cannot strike back in any militarily meaningful way without getting crushed. The US can even kill their most public symbol of military strength without real consequence. Now they are exposed to their citizens as being weak and without a plan to deal with the US.
9
@Frank Excellent,penetrating analysis of the position Iran finds itself in, one in which there is no good solution, no "porte de sortie!"The heavy handed theocracy in Tehran, so deeply resented by "le peuple," is aware that in Trump, who does act spontaneously, not always with the best of consequences, is no "petite nature," as many in the M.E. considered his predecessor to be, and not predisposed to draw a line in the sand and allow it to be crossed by the adverse party.The level of erudition and analysis is comparable to that of James Risen,"mon avis:" Your comment is mind broadening and educative!
1
@Frank. It is not at all clear that Iran deliberately mistargeted its missiles. For starters, that is a very difficult thing to do. Some four missiles actually misfired. Also, these two bases did not have any Patriot anti-missile batteries. Finally, given the lack of professionalism exhibited by the shoot-down of the Ukrainian passenger jet, there is little reason to believe the Iranians meant no harm. The lack of US casualties had more to do with US anticipation of an attack and taking appropriate measures.
In any case, the US stuck to its red line (more or less) and refused to respond with force - a fact that undermines all the “Trump is a loose cannon and war monger” scenarios. The episode has exposed huge fissures within Iran, stopped its momentum in creating a Shi’a crescent and demoralized its proxies in the region who depend on Iranian funding.
Let the people of Iran speak freely and determine their own destiny. It is readily apparent that the majority do not share the Ayatollahs’ strategic goals. They now have some space to do that with Western support. Perhaps the 1,500 protesters shot down by the Iranian regime so far will not have died in vain after all.
3
In three weeks, the entire American position in the Middle East has completely collapsed. The war on ISIS is now dead. Iran will have nuclear weapons before the end of the year.
And after almost 17 years, the American war in Iraq has ended in a total defeat for the US. American forces will be driven out of the country entirely, not with guns and bombs but with public sentiment and law. We are the pariah.
In 2000, who in Iran would have believed in their wildest dreams that, 20 years later, Iran would completely dominate the region as fully as it does today, with enemies left and right conveniently removed and an upcoming nuclear arsenal to defend their gains? America's gift to them.
It is astonishing to see the mortal blow Soleimani’s death has dealt to the US. Even dead, this general has managed to outwit, outthink, outplan, and completely outclass the entire rotten leadership of the United States. It's pathetic to watch.
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@Mary
In 2000 the US was led by a Republican who chose to invade 2 nations in a foolish nonstrategic adventure unraveling the very structures and stability of the region. A Democrat became president next and tried to create an accord to hold back nuke development which worked, as we then sought solutions to other problems with Iran. Now another Republican gets in and unravels the nuke deal. The United States' worst enemy is itself.
3
It is great that there is a pause to think peace, after the tit for tat escalation that did not result in a full scale war. Trump admin was right in doing what it did and the Ayatollah regime delivered not just a "slap on the face" but I consider it a very tight slap to the Iraqi base housing Americans. As the dust has settled, we are beginning to learn what the result is. We were told there are no casualties which is true but we now know there were at least 12 who were injured and there is major structural damage. We also knew before hand that Iran has a strong ground force far superior to the Iraqi ground forces that fought the Iran Iraq war when Saddam was in control. Now we know that Iran has lethal missiles some from Russia, China and possibly made in Iran, some of which can do considerable damage whether intentionally or unintentionally.
We all hope for a diplomatic resolution to the 40 years since 1979 conflict between Iran and the US which has resulted in hostilities from the beginning of the Ayotollah regime storming into Tehran after hibernating in France for several years while the Shah of Iran was installed by the west going back to 25 years before the Ayatollah regime took over the US embassy in Tehran.
Let me make it clear to those trying to implicate the tensions between US and Iran for the unintentional shooting down of the Ukranian airline passenger plane that took off from the Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran was 100% a blunder of Iran in fog of war.
3
It's interesting to read what Iran thinks of the US and recent events, not that we didn't already know this by their behavior.
The only thing I know for sure is this: the world is far less safe and stable than it was before Donald Trump abruptly canceled the Iran nuclear deal so carefully and deliberately developed with close US allies.
Trump rules 100% by emotion--usually personal, paranoid, and vindictive--rather like Khamenei himself. The world doesn't need a clash between two unstable leaders eager to appear tough and strong to their people, but this is what we're facing now.
Trump may have been a builder of fancy properties, but he hasn't a clue how to build relationships in a diverse and dangerous world. The only thing he's able to do with 100% success is break things.
Too bad he doesn't know how to fix them once broken.
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@ChristineMcM: Differences over what God thinks divide people. The solution is a no-brainer. Nobody knows what such a being would think if it existed, and nobody ever will. All opinions attributed to God are inadmissible in a court of law.
1
@ChristineMcM
Not at all. Iran's desire to take over Iraq and remain enemies of the US has not changed. The nuclear deal was a joke.
They were given billions which they used much of to fund proxy forces to attack our troops in Iraq.
You call that better? Out you a fan of legal weed too?
1
Why do the Iranians need to keep attacking the west and Israel with nothing to gain except misery and conflict?. Yes the US has behaved badly against Iran for long time wishing control over their oil output. They can defend themselves yes but these constant official outbursts for the destruction of the US and Israel will just inflame the West and Iran gains nothing.
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@Larry
Sure. But can you really criticize him for doing what Trump does every day?
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@mja I did not know that Trump don't allow women to live an independent life or go to work or drive or biking or wear what they like to wear...
3
The article correctly identifies President Hassan Rouhani as a moderate. Rouhani took a chance and received permission from Ayatollah Ali Khameni and the Powerful Guardian Council to seek inroads to the USA and other powers. The Ayatollah and the Guardian council agreed in a policy called "strategic Patience". Rouhani, Obama and other powers (UK, Russia, France, China, Germany) created the Iranian Nuclear deal in 2015 .Iran agreed to back down from building a nuclear weapon in exchange for the unfreezing of their assets and the lifting of sanctions. Trump Pulled out of the deal without any mew agreement and imposed sanctions which emasculated Rouhani and the moderates and threw all the power back to the hard liners. Now we have a mess.
In the end, unless someone tries to nurture a moderate position, the hard liners will continue to rule the roost.
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@Peter
Are you referring to that joke that gave them billions in exchange for promising to delay nuclear development for 10 years, 5 which have already passed?
Wake up! It was a total scam and we were ripped off and played like fools.
1
@Tall Tree ___Iran received ZERO American Taxpayer money. Zero. Surely you know that by now.
You have to feel sorry for the Iranian people. I'm sure when they toppled the Shah in 1979 they had hopes that their country would not see massive corruption again if their rulers followed God, and their country would be run with Shariah Law. But the mullahs are just as corrupt as the Shah, and they besmirch their religion in the process. That's the problem with theocracies (and the Sunni version is the murderous MBS in KSA). I guess we have our Founding Fathers (who were all Christian, btw) to thank that our democracy is open to all faiths. Nobody really believes Trump is a religious leader, and he's certainly no Christian, even though he panders to that part of his base. Even Jesus knew that politics and religion don't mix.
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@Howard Loewen Trump doesn't impose religious rights over other rights, he simply wants them to be recognized even to the ther rights and not
discriminated.
Big difference !
1
As read about this spectacle, carefully orchestrated, full of hyperbole, hatred and distortion, attended dutifully by the faithful, the closest comparison that came to mind was a Trump rally.
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I love that stage. Looks like a cross between a low budget television sci-fi show and Dancing With the Stars.
16
The cover photo reminds me of a conference of evangelical leaders at a megachurch. All those MEN praying, super cool lights and a tiny clip-on microphone for the main man. Why don't people in this country see the parallels?
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@southern mom
We do. Yes, yes, we do see the parallels. Hoping that those who note those parallels will vote accordingly in November, too.
1
His tone at a religious service is repulsive. It's more aggressive, but nevertheless similar to what many Americans hear in their own churches.
Religious leaders have lost their way and are leading their flocks to perdition. They seem to have rejected the high ground that is their universal theme of love and tolerance here and around the world, which is a detriment to everyone, everywhere.
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@Cindy L At least in America you ave churches for every religion you want to follow. And you are free not to follow a religion.
Do you know that in Iran and muslim countries there is no such freedom?
I cannot understand why some people can only think to compare these two countries !
1
In August 1998, Bill Clinton ordered million dollar cruise missiles to blow up empty tents in an "al Qaeda base" in Afghanistan, and crowed greatly about this as Operation Infinite Reach. A lot of good that did. Dubya's election included mocking that.
Now Iran has done the same sort of thing. While they hit more of a real base, they didn't do much damage nor hurt anyone.
Big boast. If that is what it takes to avoid more war, fine, let them boast. Let's have no war with Iran.
11
I saw him cry after Soleimani was assassinated but did he cry after the Iranian military shot the plane?
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@Gutierrez: The Iranian military may be crying over the possible vulnerability of its air defenses to cyber warfare.
4
On one point the Ayatollah is correct, namely that the US under #45 is an arrogant power, and many a foreign allied leader would agree.
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@Sarah
If you've been reading the newspaper since the end of WWII, you will note that the US aims to exercise political and military hegemony around the globe. And your tax dollars and mine go to support the efforts.
But let's not miss an opportunity to take a shot at Mr. Trump.
12
@David H
Yes, our tax dollars - not Trump's though.
12
@mja
We could say the same thing about any President. Are you pleased that Mr. Obama, for example, accelerated the use of drones to annihilate our enemies in Afghanistan and elsewhere?
What never ceases to amaze me is the degree to which some people here cannot contain, even for a nanosecond, their hatred of Mr. trump to focus on the issue at hand.
12
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei plays to the base, Trump plays to his. If you break it, you own it. The Supreme Leader will do what he does, but the Iranian people, at large, DO NOT SUPPORT HIM. They are frightened if they protest (which they just did.) Yes, the assassination is justified, though perhaps not legally, but doesn't that mean the next one in line simply takes his place? Endgame here? Strategy? A safer world? Sudden action without (it appears) much consultation AGAIN worries me, particularly when dealing with The Middle East (a hornet's nest). We need to find a way to support the Iranian population. My friend in Iran just sent me a video of walking by the outside of the old American Embassy, saying he wished there were Americans in it. Americans working with Iranians...
19
We should just trust these people with nuclear weapons and declare victory.
6
@Dr. John -- We do exactly that with others less trustworthy, more likely to use them.
4
An iron rule of political science---when religion takes over the governance of a country, it never ends well for the country.
53
@Amanda,
Like In Saudi Arabia? Or Israel? Afghanistan perhaps? Iran? Pakistan with nukes?
This is a tough business managed best by politicians in DC who are not driven by their own religion or ideologies.
Yep we are pretty much there here in America.
2
The expression "a slap in the face" has a very specific meaning in the Iranian political context.
Now that the supreme leader has uttered the expression, has Iranian national pride been sufficiently restored to render unnecessary further retaliation?
My guess is that it does.
9
So bizarre people can believe God allowed Iran to slap the face of America but had no involvement in the accidental downing of the Civilian Airliner. You would think it would be seen as a sign from God the missile attack was wrong when God allowed the airliner to be downed. But no, it was a God sanctioned Slap in the Face of the United States? Let's sign a deal with these folks.
43
Is this really any different in this country?
51
@Tim Rutledge the initial post, and this response were my fist two recations when I read the headline...how true...
7
@GregP Rather like how professional athletes thank God when they win, but never blame him when they lose.
3
If not for trump none of this would be happening. He kicked a hornet's nest to undo what Obama negotiated. All the blood is on trump's hands
200
@Maggie While I don't disagree with you, the issue of the downing of the Ukrainian flight is more nuanced than that. A mistake, perhaps, could one day be forgiven. The denial and rebuttal by the Iranian regime, I'm afraid, cannot. These people have lost all legitimacy and should do the right thing and leave.
12
Iran was a mess and exporter of terror long before DT came on the scene. They did not change their ways during Obama administration nor in response to the nuclear deal. If you’re looking for blood on hands do some background reading on Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani and the other dude killed in recent drone attack. The world is a better place without them. If Iran spent their oil wealth on things other than exporting terror (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen to name a few) they could have a flourishing country and be a welcome member of the global community. That’s on them.
13
@Okihara Meanwhile the US government stuck with the lie of weapons of mass destruction and used it to lay waste to a country and kill hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, displace millions, steal billions and was never really held accountable.
Yes, what happened is awful and at first denying it was brutal and I do think people need to be held accountable, but to think a regime needs to be replaced because of it while the US government continues to trample on human rights with impunity is puzzling. There are no saints on either side of the conflict but the US lost the moral high ground a long time ago.
5
Donald Trump is salivating at the chance to bomb Iran. Iran’s research tells them that Trump can be easily provoked into a war. Maybe that’s what this is about?
7
Recent history suggests you are wrong about POTUS wanting to bomb Iran. Bolton, who was very hawkish towards Iran, came and went with no war. The drone killing occurred on Iraq soil, and there was no US response to Iran’s missile attack on US occupied bases in Iraq. Long before he was POTUS, DT was consistently critical of US involvement in Middle East. But, time will tell.
2
Ok, and now I suppose we are all waiting for someone to be turned into a pillar of salt?
14
@rford we get peppered with tweets. Salt will follow as surely as God talks to the Ayatollah and Trump does not need God's forgiveness.
3
Theocratic rule on steroids.
Iranian people and American voters deserve better leadership.
We all struggle with despots.
I feel sorry for our military infantry and Iranian citizens in the crosshairs of endless oil wars.
My heart breaks for the soldiers that were killed by rockets and the folks on that Ukrainian plane downed.
This all must end. Where is the light. ?
25
Iran is way more democratic than Russia and would be a great ally of the US.
16
@CathyK
Please explain that piece of philosophy? Or, was it tongue in cheek sarcasm?
8
@Mike
It is a democracy of sorts, believe it or not.
@CathyK
I think Cathy just believed one piece of propaganda over another. This is what happened when critical thinking is actively discouraged in school
2
The invocation of any god is an abdication of reason, but among true believers of any faith this thought is or borders on heresy.
Unless the supernatural is invoked, anyone has the natural right to believe what ever he or she wants just as anyone has the right to disagree. It is only when supernatural existence is brought into human affairs that solutions to human problems become unsolvable.
While supernatural belief certainly appears to bring comfort to billions of people it should have no part to play in our more easily determined human affairs.
Religion and politics are no more soluble than oil and water.
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@Ian MacFarlane
You seem to be referring not only to Iran, but also to the US.
There is no other advanced nation that I know of where the leaders are expected to say that God should bless it after addressing the public.
They also don't hold prayer breakfast in their domiciles.
13
Maybe it's about time that Khamenei moved on, and democratized his own government and military, instead of sanctioning Iran's people, and gave them more democracy, and managed their own country and not undermining all of the countries.
Further, their military owns and controls the businesses there, and doesn't allow its citizens the freedoms that are warranted in a free society, which they don't have.
75
@Quandry
Telling Mr. Khameini to "move on" is akin to telling Mitch McConnell to "move on."
It does not work that way in Iran, although I am sure the Iranian people wish it did.
44
@Quandry Iran does actually separation of power and democratic elections. The problem is of course that Khamenei severely restricts who you can vote on. Hence not very fun to be an Iranian voter.
However that is not a unique problem to them. In Iran it is formally enforced. In the US it is informally enforced. You essentially only get to vote on candidates approved by the rich donor class.
Thus while Iran has a religious oligarchy guarding the entrance to the highest office, the US has a sort of capitalist business oligarchy guarding the highest office.
Hong Kong has the same problem. You can vote on anyone you like as long as they are approved by a council selected by China.
A great way to fake democracy is having such gate keepers either explicitly or implicitly.
29
Mitch McConnell has been re-elected by his constituents every six years in a free and fair elections. Hardly comparable.
7
Seems to me that the Iranian people and the regime that chokes its prosperity with endless proxy wars and suppression of expression is desperate to project business as usual. Trump has taken out a dangerous man that represented the power of the regime. Whether that is something you supported or not, it has a very powerful impact on the Iranian people who can see further erosion of the theocratic power in Tehran. What we do next will determine how this unfolds in the streets of Iranian cities and the Middle East.
123
@Ron I just don’t want us stuck in another proxy war and then spend 5 trillion dollars and thousands of American lives for nothing.Lets not get baited into any more poorly thought out actions and rebuild our highways and schools here.
104
I agree, we have plenty of priorities in this country we need to address now. Unfortunately, geopolitics isn’t a simple black and white issue, we have interests in a globalized society that sometimes force us into these challenges.
The Iranian regime is spreading chaos throughout the region with their brand of political theocracy business model and we are trying to protect our interests, sometimes with disastrous consequences when we don’t cross our T’s and dot our I’s.
American military might is a powerful tool at our disposal, but quite limited in overall effectiveness; our diplomatic efforts are another tool in our arsenal that we need to get a lot better at using or we’ll continue to get involved in these intractable proxy wars. Trumpism isn’t big on diplomacy, it prefers the hammer.
10
@Ron
Yes, that airline shooting gave rise, once again, to the Iranian protestors. This, after having been jailed by the thousands and even killed for protesting earlier when they held protests in over 100 cities in Iran.
Our Congress should be voicing support for the citizens of Iran and spending less time trying to get Trump for having killed their key oppressor.
16
Trump gave this religious dictator type just what he needed.
He at least for now united the Iranian people as nobody could have done.
They will be emboldened to be even more aggressive.
Ditto for other dictators like Kim, in the Phil., and elsewhere.
America use to stick up for democracy and rule of law now we show case these enemies of democracy.
9
@Paul
According to the New York Post on 1/15/20:
"His [Trump's] most recent tweet in Persian, for example, was the most-liked tweet in that language in Twitter’s history."
Clearly, they appreciate the US president's support.
10
@AACNY
Trump may be ignorant in so many ways but a fool he isn't. He is also expedient and transactional. Thus, he is not one to pass up an opportunity handed to him by the protesters who were protest an action he was the proximate cause of to both distraction from his complicity as well as to use their actions as it supported his own. The hypocritical nature of Trump's support for the Iranians after attacks on them previously is obvious.
2
@AACNY Thank you for your reply. the NY Post is in essence Pravda West, it mirrors the opinion of Putin thru Trump.
Marie below pretty much got it right, it backfired on Trump.
That is not to say there is some opposition to the gov't in Iran by the People of Iran, but Trump actions and tweets greatly harmed them.
2
Those guys at the top of Iran’s leadership are weird! I know we’ve got some weirdness going on here right now, but that is something altogether different.
I worry for Israel’s safety in all of this. Iran’s leadership seems capable of something wildly irrational right now.
10
@Newton Guy
Iran retaliated with measured restraint. Saudi exports are more dangerous to us. Iran will not make a first strike against Israel.They're not crazy that way, inviting devastation by American forces.
3
When seeking the high ground of religious sanctimony one must consider that the fall is more perilous. How often God is invoked for favor even if the participants serve the same deity- a historian once noted that far more Christians died by their own hands than ever were executed by the empire of Rome.
3
I heard one analyst on NPR say the Iranian regime is likely sitting back and waiting for the election in hopes that it gets to deal with a democrat going forward. One could argue the recent vote to limit the president's options on Iran has sent the wrong message.
10
@AACNY
In a Democratic society, based on the rule of law, no vote can or should be seen as the "wrong" message.
4
@johnni
That was a non-binding resolution. Necessary or a political tactic?
5
I am so sick and tired of hearing God “made me do it” , “God allowed that to happen”. It’s just an excuse to do harm, behave badly and to hold some position of power and believe we are righteous.
Purely, to rely on faith that God is the driving force controlling both men and women’s actions, as humans we will always serve our own interests.
121
@D Martin Yep. If there is a God (and that is a big if), then God's will is clearly not done on Earth. The Lord's Prayer implies this directly. If God's will were done on Earth, why would we have to pray for that to be the case? The responsibility to behave ourselves is on us and us alone.
15
@D Martin ____Tell that to Barr, Pompeo and DeVos.
11
My favorite is when a tornado survivor surveys the wreckage that killed their neighbors and destroyed their home and they get on TV and thank God for the miracle of sparing them. What? Who sent the tornado and what did your poor neighbors do that was so bad? Thank your good luck.
2
Scary stuff. Does any other country’s leadership make a point to disrespect and hate us as much as Iran’s? They should be ashamed at themselves for downing the plane, but they’re scapegoating our projected reaction to it instead. It sounds like the people are divided, but do we really know?
15
@Sam Yes Sam our country at this time does. Sam did you not go to any of trumps rallies. All he does at his rallies is to make fun of anyone who is not white and he loves to make fun of disabled people no matter what color they are. trump is worse because he grew up in a democracy and should know better.
16
@Sam
Scary? What do you expect them to do, write us love letters? We have killed their leader in the 50’s, imposes a brutal puppet, taken their oil for decades, and then sanctioned them when they ousted that puppet. We backed saddam Hussein against them and watched as he used chemical weapons on the Iranian people.
Shouldn’t THEY fear US and not the other way around?
Though his denigration of the plane shoot down protestors is offensive and more in line with how Donald Trump characterizes protestors against him, is there any point he made that is objectively wrong?
4
Theocracies are bad.
Also keep religion out of government and government out of religion.
174
@Jane: And to separate ourselves from theocracy and that madness that it cultivates, we would be wise to keep out of the Middle East.
13
@Jane
Wait until one is threatened to happen here. There will be oceans of complaints in the comments section, otherwise everyone will stay home.
2
@Jane
And we desperately need to apply that rule to our own country. It's what our founders intended. But we're certainly not honoring that principle.
2
Say anything you want !
Don't kill or injure Americans.
13