# Poll: US attacks on Iran **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088 "2026-02-28T22:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/61 "2026-03-02T14:07:03Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > …and to hell with concerns about long term ramifications or civilian casualties! If something superficially with zero long term planning appears to be good, then it’s GOOD, end of story! I would suggest there’s a flip side to this argument, that while righteous motives and sound planning increase the likelihood and palatability of a good outcome, neither of these things is required for a good outcome, nor do they reliably predict the quality of outcome. We simply don’t yet know what’s going to happen. “Trump is a dummy who does everything wrong” has not shown any positive or negative correlation to the quality of economic or international-affairs outcomes simply because such affairs are bigger than any one person or country, even when they’re the biggest and most powerful. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/62 "2026-03-02T14:07:13Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > The purpose of the Rules of War is akin to game theory. If both sides limit certain sorts of actions, that’s better for everyone on both sides. If one side is already breaking the rules, Apologies again, but where are these “Rules of War” governing this situation written? Who agreed to them and who enforces them? > [@Babale](#): > > What I care about is whether a given military action makes the world a better or worse place. I can imagine some individuals/states might think the world would be “a better place” following actions/developments you or I might personally disagree with. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/63 "2026-03-02T14:27:35Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Apologies again, but where are these “Rules of War” governing this situation written? There are no rules of war governing this situation. For rules to govern something you need a government to enforce those rules, and this of course doesn’t exist. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Who agreed to them and who enforces them? That’s precisely the problem. Oh sure, in theory, there are various treaties, some of which the UN has said apply whether you sign on to them or not. But that doesn’t mean these rules govern this situation, because again, there is no government to enforce the rules, and thus, no governing. For example, by these UN rules, Iran certainly shouldn’t be attacking Israeli civilians through their proxies Hamas or Hezbollah, nor should they disrupt international shipping through their other proxies the Houthis, nor should they use the Houthis to create a devestating decade long civil war that results in famine across Yemen. So what? What is going to be done about Iran doing any of those things? Precisely nothing. What _does_ govern international relations is the actions of various polities. Iran isn’t going to stop doing the things I listed above because they are “against the law”; America and much of the world have tried to use economic pressure for decades, to no avail. So now they are being stopped by force. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > I can imagine some individuals/states might think the world would be “a better place” following actions/developments you or I might personally disagree with. Yes, you are correct - of course. But the key point is that those states are actively working to make the world closer to their personal vision. What stops them is vigorous opposition from other states, not international law. “America shouldn’t take actions to make the world more liberal because this would legitimize other actors, like authoritarian Russia or Islamist Iran, taking actions to make the world more authoritarian or Islamist” is a _bad argument_ because Iran and Russia are _already acting this way_. We should vigorously oppose them, not bury our head in the sand to avoid offending them. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/64 "2026-03-02T14:35:31Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > There’s a good chance we just get a continuation of the existing government, and the second most likely possibility is that some other nasty set of extremists or dictator will fill any power vacuum. > > On the other hand, this regime was as destructive and evil as it was possible to get without having nukes. That’s kind of where I am on this. I’m not smart enough to speculate on the 2nd and 3rd order effects this will have, and it would be foolish to think that a stable and democratic government will arise, but also, any replacement government couldn’t be much worse than what they had. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/65 "2026-03-02T14:37:52Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > There are no rules of war governing this situation. Apparently you do not appreciate the inconsistency between citing (and capitalizing) the “Rules of War” in one post - seemingly wishing to justify one actor’s actions, and then quickly acknowledging that there are no such rules of war. > [@Babale](#): > > Iran and Russia are _already acting this way_. Such argument only holds if you focus on our preferred perspective, and choose a specific start date that suits your preferences. Like I said, I’m not a big fan of tribalism - in any form. But, short of clear genocide, I respect a country’s right to act tribally within its own borders. And I strongly prefer economic and social efforts to effect change within a sovereign state rather than military. But I strongly suspect you and I will never reach agreement on some pretty basic issues/definitions that affect our disparate views. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/66 "2026-03-02T14:42:09Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Apparently you do not appreciate the inconsistency between citing (and capitalizing) the “Rules of War” in one post - seemingly wishing to justify one actor’s actions, and then quickly acknowledging that there are no such rules of war. Apparently you didn’t read my original post? > [@Babale](#): > > The purpose of the Rules of War is akin to game theory. If both sides limit certain sorts of actions, that’s better for everyone on both sides. If one side is already breaking the rules, If both sides limit certain actions, then both sides benefit. We call this mutual understanding “the Rules of War”. Sometimes they correspond to various documents the UN has, other times they do not. Obviously rules of war exist; what I said is that _they aren’t governing this situation_, because Iran has been ignoring them to deliver proxy attacks for decades. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Such argument only holds if you focus on our preferred perspective, and choose a specific start date that suits your preferences. > > Like I said, I’m not a big fan of tribalism - in any form. But, short of clear genocide, I respect a country’s right to act tribally within its own borders. And I strongly prefer economic and social efforts to effect change within a sovereign state rather than military. I don’t know if you noticed, but the world has been making social and economic efforts to change Iran’s regime for literally decades, which in part led to the recent protests where the regime murdered 30,000 Iranian citizens. If you’ve tried something futily for 47 years, it’s time to change strategy, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/67 "2026-03-02T14:43:54Z")
Maybe regime change from abroad just doesn’t work and should be abandoned (barring very long term occupation and very extensive investment)? Instead of bombing and killing lots of civilians and putting many others at risk as well? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/68 "2026-03-02T14:58:24Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > If you’ve tried something futily for 47 years, it’s time to change strategy, maybe. And what happened 48+ years ago? Anything that might predispose a nation to think unkindly of foreign states’ efforts to influence? It is absolutely fine that you have your own myopic vision of what is and isn’t right/good/legitimate/justified. I do as well. And I suspect many Iranians - whatever their personal situation - do as well. But you don’t seem to acknowledge the personal and biased nature of your views. Which is fine. A lot of people act and speak that way. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/69 "2026-03-02T15:02:59Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > But you don’t seem to acknowledge the personal and biased nature of your views. Which is fine. A lot of people act and speak that way. Of course I acknowledge that my views are mine. Just because of that I’m meant to not vigorously defend them? I understand that there are people who disagree with me and hold views I consider reprehensible that they think are good. But what you seem to be missing is that _those people are already vigorously and actively working to protect their own interests_. If people who agree with me and believe in liberal values just sit around with our thumb up our collective ass whining about “well, would it be morally justified for me to defend my views” while followers of every other ideology work to promote their own interests as quickly as they can, then _Liberalism will die_. I don’t think that Trump himself is doing this for the right reasons, but frankly, I couldn’t care less. I don’t view this through the lens of domestic US politics; this is _far_ bigger than that. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/70 "2026-03-02T15:08:54Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > And I note that **Wesley Clark** failed to expressly respond whether or not he approves of the US - or other nations - violently interfering within another sovereign state’s borders when we consider it in our interest. Is it made more legitimate just because the aggressor is more powerful? Is it legitimate for other nations to do so - say, to the US or Israel - in return? Iran has been promoting war against Israel for years. This war started because Iranian backed proxies attacked Israel in october of 2023. Iran has also fired missiles at a dozen nations since this war began. You guys act like a nation can do whatever they want to their own citizens and its perfectly fine, but once violence happens between nations than its unbearable. None of you gave a damn about the tens of thousands of Iranians massacred by the government after the recent uprisings against tyranny and oppression. But all of a sudden, now you care about Iranian causalities once it fits your psychological narrative. You all were silent when tens of thousands of Iranians were being killed by the IRGC, but now that some are being killed by airstrikes suddenly you care deeply about the lives of the Iranian people because you can use that to promote your ideological narrative. I’m guessing you guys also feel whats happening in Gaza is a genocide, but you don’t care about the actual genocide going on in South Sudan since that can’t be blamed on the west. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/71 "2026-03-02T15:14:31Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > …and elementary schools. On day 1 the US / Israel blew up an elementary school killing 180. > > But of course it’s all justified because of the…what threat on US again? Its very unpleasant. But an investigation needs to be done to see what happened so it can be avoided in the future. Also this reminds me of when the war with Gaza was happening, and Israel attacking a hospital parking lot. The media said Israel attacked them, but eventually it was learned that the bombing happened because of a misfired rocked fired by Hamas. To reiterate, again, none of you give a damn about the endless tens of thousands murdered and tortured by the regime. But once you can use death and suffering in Iran to support your political narratives, suddenly you become humanitarians. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/72 "2026-03-02T15:18:07Z")
This is total bullshit. Firstly, this war didn’t start because of the killing of Iranian protesters. Neither Netanyahu nor Trump care at all about that. Secondly, there’s absolutely no reason to believe that a war with no mission and no plan is going to improve the lives of Iranian civilians. It’s just Trump fantasy nonsense. Live in that fantasy world if you want, but don’t expect anyone else to. And thirdly, there’s no controversy about Sudan. No disagreement. It doesn’t get discussed much because everyone agrees genocide in Sudan is bad and should stop. It’s entirely irrelevant to criticisms of Israel. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/73 "2026-03-02T15:21:26Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Also this reminds me of when the war with Gaza was happening, and Israel attacking a hospital parking lot. The media said Israel attacked them, but eventually it was learned that the bombing happened because of a misfired rocked fired by Hamas. An awful lot of the atrocities have proven to be true however. The IDF loves this example because they get to handwave entire cities turned to rubble with “there was this one time”. > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > To reiterate, again, none of you give a damn about the endless tens of thousands murdered and tortured by the regime. Since this is outside of the Pit I will just calmly say you are wrong and that I take great offense at that statement. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/74 "2026-03-02T15:29:22Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Firstly, this war didn’t start because of the killing of Iranian protesters. Neither Netanyahu nor Trump care at all about that. Secondly, there’s absolutely no reason to believe that a war with no mission and no plan is going to improve the lives of Iranian civilians. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended with at least a tacit agreement that the Iranian regime could continue, as oppressively as it liked to its own people, as long as it accepted forgoing nuclear weapons and dropped - or at least dialled down - its “axis of resistance” and sponsorship of terrorism in other countries. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/75 "2026-03-02T15:36:09Z")
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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/76 "2026-03-02T15:38:23Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I’m guessing you guys also feel whats happening in Gaza is a genocide, but you don’t care about the actual genocide going on in South Sudan since that can’t be blamed on the west. Hard to unpack this hijack. It is insulting loads of users & hijacking the thread. **Warning** for you and thread ban. Do not post in this thread again. Take this to the Pit or something. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/77 "2026-03-02T15:58:48Z")
This topic was automatically opened after 18 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088/78 "2026-03-02T17:08:18Z")
I’m not American, Iranian or anywhere near the current conflict. I am very strongly anti-war, though. The Idiot in Chief of the United States of America is being led by his orange nose into an unwinnable coflict akin to Iraq, and while I am not privy to his reasoning, the old adage “follow the money” seems particularly appropriate. Who is paying Trump? Seems like a conspicacy theory, except… this is Trump. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-us-attacks-on-iran/1028088.md?page=3)