# United States and Israel are bombing Iran {for current/ongoing events, past/future have specific threads} **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump, iran-strikes-2026\ **Created:** [February 28, 2026, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071 "2026-02-28T07:56:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 33
**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 8, 2026, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/642 "2026-03-08T22:23:49Z")
Mojtaba Khamenei has been confirmed as the new Supreme Leader. > **[Mojtaba Khamenei, son of ayatollah killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes, named...](https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/iran-supreme-leader-mojtaba-khamenei-rcna261645)** > > President Donald Trump said Thursday that Mojtaba Khamenei would be "unacceptable," and Israel has vowed to target any declared successor to Ali Khamenei. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/643 "2026-03-08T22:46:15Z")
That type of stunning victory rarely happens in modern wars. A counter-insurgency allows the country to continue fighting. > **[Trump demands 'unconditional surrender' from Iran. But what happens after?](https://abc7.com/post/trump-demands-unconditional-surrender-iran-what-happens/18686720/)** > > One week into the United States' war with Iran, questions abound about President Donald Trump's mission and what comes after the fighting ends. ---
**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 8, 2026, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/644 "2026-03-08T22:47:42Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Mojtaba Khamenei has been confirmed as the new Supreme Leader. Didn’t I read somewhere he’s not actually eligible for that position? ---
**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 8, 2026, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/645 "2026-03-08T22:52:12Z")
Neither was Khamenei, when Khomeini died. Systems like that aren’t real, just a fig leaf for autocracy. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/646 "2026-03-08T23:54:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Mojtaba Khamenei has been confirmed as the new Supreme Leader. Classic example of “new boss, same as the old boss”. So other than massive amounts of death and destruction and strengthened resolve for renewed terrorism, nothing has been accomplished in this undeclared war. . ---
**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 8, 2026, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/647 "2026-03-08T23:58:09Z")
This new theocrat and his rubber stamping council may not last very long. If the Theocracy does get pushed out, it will be a positive at least. It is a horrific regime. ---
**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 8, 2026, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/648 "2026-03-08T23:58:26Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Didn’t I read somewhere he’s not actually eligible for that position? Yes. One of the rules is that he has to have reached the rank of Ayatollah. He is only a Hojjatoleslam which is a rank below that. I have no idea what the difference is. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/649 "2026-03-09T00:14:15Z")
From **[a recent CBC report](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mojtaba-khamenei-explainer-9.7119943)**: > Alan Eyre, former ​U.S. diplomat and Iran specialist, said Khamenei is “more hardline than his father,” while Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said he will follow the “same playbook as his father.” > > “It’s a big humiliation for the United States to carry out an operation of this scale, risk so much, and end up killing an 86-year-old man, only to have him replaced by his hardline son,” Vatanka said. > > Khamenei was widely believed to have been behind the sudden rise of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was elected president in 2005. > > Khamenei’s wife, who was killed ⁠in Saturday’s airstrikes, was the daughter of a prominent hardliner, ‌the former parliament Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel. > > “He’s going to have a lot of revenge to exact,” Eyre said. ---
**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 9, 2026, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/650 "2026-03-09T00:16:46Z")
Which is why the US/Israel can’t leave him in power. Once you start shit like this, you have to see it through. If they had any interest in negotiating for peace, they would have at least picked a more moderate next leader. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/651 "2026-03-09T00:20:57Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Yes. One of the rules is that he has to have reached the rank of Ayatollah. He is only a Hojjatoleslam which is a rank below that. Simple: So they first promote him, and then immediately name him the new supreme leader. I’m pretty sure there were some Popes who were first ordained as priests on the day of their being chosen for the Papacy (and even if it hasn’t happened, it’s a possibility that the Church allows for). > [@What\_Exit](#): > > If they had any interest in negotiating for peace, they would have at least picked a more moderate next leader. If they’d had any interest in negotiating for peace, they would have lost it when they got bombed while negotiating for peace. ---
**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 9, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/652 "2026-03-09T00:24:34Z")
It is a problem when all 3 principals are f’d up assholes. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/653 "2026-03-09T00:26:08Z")
There seem to be only one way to get peace from Donald Trump, and that is to surrender unconditionally (his words), that doesn’t put much wind behind the sails of moderate candidates precisely. ---
**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 9, 2026, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/654 "2026-03-09T00:27:32Z")
Fair, but I think everyone knows what he said yesterday has little bearing on tomorrow. He just loves to hear himself in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/655 "2026-03-09T00:35:03Z")
Untrustworthy inflammatory rhetoric is still inflammatory. Plus, if actions are the way to measure, unilateraly abandoning treaties, bombing in the middle of negotiations and generally behaving like a complete and total motherfucking dick also tends not to compel moderation on the other side. ---
**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 9, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/656 "2026-03-09T00:36:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Simple: So they first promote him, and then immediately name him the new supreme leader. I’m pretty sure there were some Popes who were first ordained as priests on the day of their being chosen for the Papacy (and even if it hasn’t happened, it’s a possibility that the Church allows for). Can they just promote him under the rules? I have no idea. A quick search isn’t giving me a good answer but it looks like it’s a determination made by clerics who aren’t part of the government and they might not want to do so if he hasn’t made some sort of objective qualifications. They can just as easily make him the leader at the lower rank if they are willing to stretch things and not bother with a promotion. ---
**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 9, 2026, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/657 "2026-03-09T00:40:46Z")
Let me shed a few tears for the biggest sponsors of unrest and terror in the region. What Trump ordered was wrong, but that regime has been evil for a long time. Sadly Trump will probably never pay for what he does. Doesn’t mean the leadership of Iran should continue. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/658 "2026-03-09T00:41:16Z")
I remember reading something, may be from Daniel Larison to the effect that American foreign policy tends to think that other countries’ populations are far more passive than Americans are. For example, expecting moderation after killing the leaders of the country. If someone where to kill Trump and Vance (and a bunch of other people too), a school full of girls, a lot of U.S. civilians and military personnel… Would you expect MAGA fanatics to _moderate_ themselves? ---
**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 9, 2026, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/659 "2026-03-09T00:44:02Z")
No, but we’re going off-topic, start a new thread and I’ll reply. **Moderating** ---
**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 9, 2026, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/662 "2026-03-09T02:51:42Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > nothing has been accomplished in this undeclared war. Well it’s accomplished freeing up some Russian oil, and giving Putin a shit-ton more money. So there’s that. ---
**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 9, 2026, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071/663 "2026-03-09T04:15:47Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Let me shed a few tears for the biggest sponsors of unrest and terror in the region. That would be us, not them. (points at thread title) Case in point. This is just our latest rampage through the region. Iran couldn’t do as much damage as we do if they _tried;_ they simply aren’t powerful enough. There’s no “good guys” in this conflict, not on the governmental level. The good people are all nameless unknowns being killed in the crossfire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071.md?page=32) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-and-israel-are-bombing-iran-for-current-ongoing-events-past-future-have-specific-threads/1028071.md?page=34)