# How would Iran respond to any western "unsuitable act" ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 22, 2011, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439 "2011-10-22T11:02:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/1 "2011-10-22T11:02:27Z")
Ayatullah Khameini said that “Any unsuitable act, whether political or security, will meet a resolute response from the Iranian nation”. How would (or could) Iran respond ? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/2 "2011-10-22T11:17:30Z")
Send us a Sternly Worded Note, perhaps. That sounds like pretty standard empty political-speak to me; I doubt there’s any actual plan or even any actual definition of “unsuitable act” in his mind. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/3 "2011-10-22T11:22:52Z")
Capture 3 more hikers and hold them for 2 years? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/4 "2011-10-22T12:26:55Z")
Blow up something big in the Strait of Hormuz, stopping all traffic, and causing a global recession? ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/5 "2011-10-22T14:25:53Z")
Step One: > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Send us a Sternly Worded Note, perhaps. That sounds like pretty standard empty political-speak to me; I doubt there’s any actual plan or even any actual definition of “unsuitable act” in his mind. this is true , for now… Step Two: > [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Blow up something big in the Strait of Hormuz, stopping all traffic, and causing a global recession? and this will be true, but only about 5 years from now, after Iran tests its nukes. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/6 "2011-10-22T16:31:54Z")
Assassinate key leaders with predator drones? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/7 "2011-10-22T19:36:41Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Blow up something big in the Strait of Hormuz, stopping all traffic, and causing a global recession? And thereby destroying the market for their oil exports? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/8 "2011-10-22T19:47:22Z")
Go on television and yell a bunch of jibberish that will make us all point and laugh? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/9 "2011-10-23T02:45:03Z")
The ‘something big’ I referred to was, say, a supertanker, not an explosive. Iran is perfectly capable of sinking one of those right now. Don’t think they wouldn’t cut off their nose to spite their face. It is an extreme action, but it is a very possible one. They could also sink something less big, and simply delay transit for a while. Or any number of minor details. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/10 "2011-10-23T04:48:14Z")
\*\*How would Iran respond to any western “unsuitable act” ? \*\* We may find out in the near future. The recent news about an Iranian plot to assassinate a Saudi ambassador strikes me as very odd and unlikely. What seems very likely, to me and it is just an opinion, is that this incident is a face saving device and prelude that will allow the Saudis to look the other way and allow Israel to over-fly Saudi airspace and attack the Iranian nuclear weapons producing plants in Southern Iran. I am not a conspiracy nut by any means, but I do not believe that the Iranian nuclear weapons program will be allowed to continue much longer without some attempt to remove the threat. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/11 "2011-10-23T06:03:58Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > What seems very likely, to me and it is just an opinion, is that this incident is a face saving device and prelude that will allow the Saudis to look the other way and allow Israel to over-fly Saudi airspace and attack the Iranian nuclear weapons producing plants in Southern Iran. That would be foolish; the Iranians specifically designed their program to be effectively immune to that sort of attack. Short of the Israelis using nukes themselves it wouldn’t work. Nor would it work as a face saving measure. > [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > I am not a conspiracy nut by any means, but I do not believe that the Iranian nuclear weapons program will be allowed to continue much longer without some attempt to remove the threat. There have been several attempts already. But as long as it is rational for the Iranians to want nukes nothing short of massive military force is going to stop them. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/12 "2011-10-23T06:53:43Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > What seems very likely, to me and it is just an opinion, is that this incident is a face saving device and prelude that will allow the Saudis to look the other way and allow Israel to over-fly Saudi airspace and attack the Iranian nuclear weapons producing plants in Southern Iran. Which facilities the Iranians, learning the lesson of the Osirak reactor in Iraq, have built underground and bomb-hardened. We’ve been over this many times before. ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/13 "2011-10-23T07:03:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Which facilities the Iranians, learning the lesson of the Osirak reactor in Iraq, have built underground and bomb-hardened. We’ve been over this many times before. Indeed. If the Israelis though they could do anything to seriously damage the Iranian nuclear programme, they would have long since done it. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/14 "2011-10-23T08:00:33Z")
Would respond? Angry public fist shaking, possible pontification. Could respond? Unleashing Hezbollah with instructions to hit soft targets from one side of the US to the other. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/15 "2011-10-23T10:05:24Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Would respond? Angry public fist shaking, possible pontification. Or nothing at all; “any unsuitable act” is so vague a standard that they can choose to ignore whatever they feel like short of someone dropping bombs without violating it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-iran-respond-to-any-western-unsuitable-act/600439/16 "2011-10-23T15:03:36Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Could respond? Unleashing Hezbollah with instructions to hit soft targets from one side of the US to the other. That easy? Really?