It is now 3:30 am in Israel, the attack seems to be over.
One person seriously wounded. Some unspecified “minor” damage.
Most of the 200 incoming missiles and drones were destroyed before entering Israeli airspace.
That’s because the Israelis, British, Americans, and others are all in the area blasting drones and missiles out of the sky.
Plausible deniability. Well, in Iran’s case, maybe just deniability.
Ooooh, so they were utterly ineffective as a show of strength. Got it.
IIW Nethanjahu,
I’d go on national television, saying Israel is evaluating all options to retaliate, including a nuclear attack on Teheran (and the top 3 cities in Iran) in 7 days, urging the Iranians to evacuate those urbes immediately.
Hell should break lose in Iran …
then sit back and wait …
Jordan enacts its own version of Remain In Mexico policy (by shooting down a number of inbound (to Israel) Iranian drones:
You have to openly wonder if Iran purposely launched an attack that they knew would be mostly intercepted and negated by Israel, the U.S. and other neighboring countries (Iraq, Jordan). The Ayatollah presumably wants to flex before the general populace of Iran, but also doesn’t want to do something that’s going to have a real chance of getting completely out of hand. As much as the right wing media in the west wants to depict Iran as a complete loose cannon, there has always been a method to the madness.
I guess only time will tell if they wrote a check they couldn’t cover this time.
They might be launching lesser drones/rockets in order to use up Israeli defense assets.
I would suppose that’s what the reporter meant when he relayed that …
It’s the gunslinger in the old Western that shoots off the other guy’s earlobe, just to demonstrate what he could do if pressed.
I don’t ever claim to know what’s in the heads of these folks, but I presume that’s the point the reporter was trying to make in speculating about the nature of this Iranian attack on Israeli soil.
Except in this analogy, Iran didn’t display stunning accuracy while targetting an area that would cause little damage; rather, they had their attack neutralized en route.
Methinks the Supreme Leader is painting a target around the smoking wreck of his attempted attack.
I certainly hope they don’t say any such thing. Nuclear sabre-rattling has the potential to go very very badly.
well the beauty is that you only have to say it - not actually do it …
just ask putin for his playbook
And if Iran calls their bluff?
Either they launch a nuclear first strike, instantly making them a pariah state and almost certainly inviting a Russian counterstrike that would quickly spiral into MAD, or they reveal themselves as all talk and invite even more attacks.
It’s REALLY not a good idea to bluff if you have no viable Plan B.
I saw the Israeli Defense Force spokesman, in his first, short statement after the attack, said, “We will do everything we need, everything to defend the state of Israel.” Read whatever promise - or threat - you want into that.
what bluff?
re-read my post…
I did not say we will nuke you, I just said we evaluate nuking you …
luckily, Joe talked me off the ledge …
but now imagine the old beards in Iran with 10 million people having to leave their cities in chaos … now that is a lot of domestic problems for the ayatolas… and didn’t cost a penny for Israel.
that would be months worth of caos and probably bring their gdp down 1-2 % - just by upsetting general life and supply chains
Why would they have to “leave their cities in chaos” if there’s no threat? You can’t rules-lawyer your way through nuclear brinksmanship like it’s a D&D campaign.
We’re taking notes from the guy who backed himself into a deterrence blind corner by failing to develop a realistic estimate of his nation’s military prowess in the invasion he ordered?
Stranger
My WAG: Iran is trying to showing it’s people that it’s a “force to be reckoned with,” while making a “big show” to the rest of the world (saber rattling). We’ll see.
Saber rattling is the threat of force. Once you launch missiles it’s no longer saber rattling.
So much this.
I am truly baffled by this attitude of, “well, Iran knew Israel has defenses, so this wasn’t a real attack”.
If my buddy is a black belt in Karate, that doesn’t mean I can pop out of bushes at random swinging a baseball bat at his head, then say “Well, I knew you’d block my clumsy blow with your superior skill, so no harm, no foul, right?”.
“Attempted murder? Now what is that?! Do they give out a Nobel Prize for Attempted Chemistry?”
No matter how this thing shakes out, last night’s battle was one for the history books - the first time a mass drone and missile attack was launched against modern air defenses. It’ll be studied for years. Someone should give it a name.