# Speculation About Trump's Underlying Reasons for Bombing Iran and Other Targets **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** iran-strikes-2026\ **Created:** [March 4, 2026, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209 "2026-03-04T21:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**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 23, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/121 "2026-03-23T17:27:02Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It is absolutely a religious war. Says who? You must realize that we’re not just gonna take your word, right? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/122 "2026-03-23T19:12:15Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It is a religious war. I swear to God I read this quote out of context and agreed: Hegseth is a religious zealot to a degree that makes the Ayatollah say, “Jeez, dude, calm down.” As long as Hegseth and other Cultists of the Apocalypse are in charge, there’s a good case that they’re deliberately trying to bring about Armageddon and prop up the Antichrist in order to usher in a millennium of Christian dominion over the earth. But even then, you gotta make the case that this is explicitly Hegseth’s purpose; and the closest I can come is this: > **[Pete Hegseth's Christian rhetoric reignites scrutiny after the U.S. goes to...](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/pete-hegseths-christian-rhetoric-reignites-scrutiny-after-the-u-s-goes-to-war-with-iran)** > > Hegseth has pushed policy changes that reflect his Christian views, including a revamp of the military chaplain corps. > “We’re fighting religious fanatics who seek a nuclear capability in order for some religious Armageddon,” Hegseth said of Iranian leaders. “But from my perspective, I mean, obviously I’m a man of faith who encourages our troops to lean into their faith, rely on God.” And that looks like a clear case of projection if I’ve ever seen one, but it’s not explicit confirmation that it’s a religious war. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/123 "2026-03-23T19:17:05Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > > [@Monty](#): > > > > Nope. It’s not even close to one. > > It is absolutely a religious war. Well, it may be a religious war… A war started by American fundamentalist Christians who want a holy war in order to hasten the 2nd coming by bringing on Armageddon. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/124 "2026-03-23T20:37:36Z")
**Magiver** , when you talk of stacks of money flown in by previous presidents, are you talking of the money that belonged to Iran from fighters paid for by the Shah, prior to the 1979 revolution, but not delivered? The money that was placed in escrow and earned interest and then returned as a result of a world court ruling? They money that was flown in in cash due to the international banking embargo on Iran, or are you discussing other monies? ---
**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:** [March 23, 2026, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/125 "2026-03-23T21:32:07Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Iran has been the region’s chief financier of of terrorism. So what? The fact that the US and Israel prefer to do their own terror attacks doesn’t make them any less terror attacks. > [@Magiver](#): > > It is absolutely a religious war. Of course. Israel is a colonialist religious ethnostate, America is largely dominated by Christian theocrats and has always hated Muslims; both would hate Iran just for existing even without other reasons for bad blood. And Iran is a religious theocracy created because the US and Britain decided to install a dictatorship, complete with [CIA-trained torture-happy secret police](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAVAK). Hating America is fundamentally built into their political culture because fighting back against an American tool is what caused it to exist in the first place; we’ve just made sure to keep the flame alive with our constant attacks and hostility. Right now, however the drivers and instigators of the war are Israel and America, not Iran. Their religious options are beside the point, they didn’t start it and can’t end it. Short of Iran getting nuclear weapons, which is about the only thing that would cause peace to break out and people actually start using diplomacy. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/126 "2026-03-24T17:27:37Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > As long as Hegseth and other Cultists of the Apocalypse…… The religious leaders in Iran believe the 12th Imam is returning at the end times. # Mahdi [# wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi) > The Mahdi (Arabic: ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, romanized: al-Mahdī, lit. ‘the Guided’) is a messianic figure in Islamic belief. He is comparable to the Christian concept of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the Jewish concept of Mashiach ben David.[1] The Mahdi is said to be a descendant of Muhammad and is believed to appear at the End of Times, shortly before Jesus returns (in Islamic belief), to rid the world of evil and injustice. > > The Mahdi is mentioned in several compilations of hadith, but absent from the Quran and the two most-revered Sunni hadith collections (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim). As such, he plays only a marginal role in Sunni Islam, and some Sunni theologians have rejected the concept of the Mahdi altogether. However, the Mahdi plays a significant role among Twelver Shias, who believe that the Mahdi is Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi—the twelfth Imam and son of the eleventh Imam Hasan al-Askari (d. 874)—who is said to be in occultation (ghayba) by divine will. Their entire political structure is based around this. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/127 "2026-03-24T17:30:52Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The religious leaders in Iran believe the 12th Imam is returning at the end times. I am so glad that the religious leaders in the US don’t believe that there’s some old figure who’s gonna return in the end times. Jesus, that’d be crazy! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/128 "2026-03-24T17:43:35Z")
If someone like that also believed that starting a war might hasten the return… Chilling. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2026, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/129 "2026-03-24T18:12:13Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The religious leaders in Iran believe the 12th Imam is returning at the end times. Their opinions are irrelevant, they aren’t the ones behind this war and they can’t stop it. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/130 "2026-03-25T02:35:25Z")
This from today’s news gives an idea of why is is impossible to know Trump’s underlying reasons: “[Nobody knows who to talk to. But we’re actually talking to the right people.](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-iran-gave-present-194335244.html)” One of the two sentences immediately above is true and/or something Trump thinks, and the other is the opposite. I just do not know which. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/131 "2026-03-25T02:43:42Z")
Remember: when Trump says “nobody knows”, he ALWAYS means “I don’t know”. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/132 "2026-03-25T05:59:42Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Their opinions are irrelevant, they aren’t the ones behind this war and they can’t stop it. They are responsible for funding terrorist groups in the region. They routinely call for the death of America and Israel and now possess the essential elements for a nuclear weapon. They have also killed tens of thousands of their own citizens for protesting. They’re batshit crazy. Politicians from both US parties have stated that they should not possess a nuclear weapon under any circumstances. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/133 "2026-03-25T06:13:36Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > They are responsible for funding terrorist groups in the region. And we and Israel just kill the people there ourselves. Dead is dead. As for them getting nuclear weapons, they _should_ get them; so should as many nations as possible. It’s the only thing that inspires the nuclear powers to actually use diplomacy instead of defaulting to “KILL!” as their solution for every foreign policy issue. It’s the US that is the real threat to the region and the world; not Iran. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/134 "2026-03-25T06:20:08Z")
Starting a war by bombing them while in the middle of talks sure looks like a great way to convince the Iranian regime they not only should have nuclear weapons, but absoulutey need to have them. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/135 "2026-03-25T06:26:28Z")
And everyone else who thinks that they at some point might have a dispute with the US…which at this point is probably everybody. The era of non-proliferation is about to come to an end, I think. Not only because of Trump and this war (Putin’s attack on Ukraine was another recent contributor); he’s just so clumsy, aggressive and impossible to negotiate with that he highlights how there’s simply _no other way_ to keep America from attacking. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/136 "2026-03-25T06:42:09Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > They routinely call for the death of America and Israel And how long have Americans been calling for the death of Iran? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/137 "2026-03-25T07:10:01Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > hey routinely call for the death of America and Israel So what? That’s just rhetoric. It’s not like the US hadn’t been doing the like for many decades about governments they don’t like, even before the theocrats took power in Iran. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/138 "2026-03-25T07:18:17Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So what? That’s just rhetoric. Also IIRC it’s just how Iranians _talk_ about things; the way Americans are always “declaring war” on things. They just say “death to” (thing they don’t like), the way we declare war on poverty or drugs or whatever. I recall it coming up in a previous thread when some protestors were saying “death to” the previous Ayatollah; they weren’t _literally_ calling for his death. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/139 "2026-03-25T07:42:38Z")
I’ve read a few times that “death to” is a direct translation but a better translation would be “down with”. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209/140 "2026-03-25T15:19:43Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > They’re batshit crazy. Politicians from both US parties have stated that they should not possess a nuclear weapon under any circumstances. This is how I feel about the USA, of which I am a citizen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-about-trumps-underlying-reasons-for-bombing-iran-and-other-targets/1028209.md?page=8)