United States and Israel are bombing Iran {for current/ongoing events, past/future have specific threads}

[Magiver]

@ParallelLines

@Magiver - I don’t know where you’re going with this repeated line of questioning, but it seems it would seem to apply in either of the speculation threads, not the current event one. No warning of course, but please take it to said threads or make a good case for it being here for the immediate, current ongoing conflict.

The title of the thread is “United States and Israel are bombing Iran”. The focus should be on Iran and the regional countries involved.

Am I in the right thread or not? what say you?

[ParallelLines]

Moderating:

@magiver perhaps you had forgotten, but I’ll remind you that you’re responsible for following the moderation in thread, especially:

United States and Israel are bombing Iran {for current/ongoing events, past/future have specific threads}

First, I apologize, @iiandyiiii, for giving confusing and contrary moderator instructions. It is understandable why you got confused, and that’s on me. Second, after discussion among P&E moderators, the following is directed to all posters: The subject conflict is likely to be protracted and branch off into many different lines of potential discussion. The current thread has already become unruly. For these reasons, as well as our rules against having omnibus threads, we’ve decided a better…

Where the thread was split.

The current thread is to discuss actual actions being taken. It’s not a Breaking News thread, but let’s keep the discussion confined to what is actually happening and the immediate, direct repercussions.

The second thread relating to this action is to discuss your speculation about our underlying reasons for bombing Iran and other targets. This includes history lessons and what previously happened that causes you to believe the US is taking these actions in the present.

The final thread relating to this action is to discuss what you believe will be the consequences of our actions.

This moderation has been repeated many times in this thread, and argued in ATMB as well. If you want to dispute it, there’s open ATMB threads about it, but given your comments, it’s clear that your question doesn’t belong in this thread, but either the “underlying reasons” or “future consequences”. So I’m directing you to take it there or other appropriate thread.

[Zakalwe]

No discussion about Iran’s latest proposal to “open” the Strait and end direct conflict while deferring talks about the nuclear situation?

Trump discussed Iran's Hormuz Strait proposal with top aides, White House says

ETA: Sorry hit enter too soon…

It seems like exactly the sort of off-ramp Trump might need right now as it kicks the can down the road (maybe two weeks or so? ), but I’m sure Trump and his crack team of negotiators will manage to spin this into a war with Japan somehow.

[JKellyMap]

Here’s the NY Times’ take on Trump’s hesitation (gift link)

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/27/us/trump-iran-proposal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.eVA.DBPt.TaN8RjAfE-dp&smid=url-share

“Trump Is Dissatisfied With Iran’s Plan to Reopen Strait of Hormuz

The proposal would have set aside questions about what to do with Iran’s nuclear program.”

[Monty]

The war is over! So says the person who started it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House asserted to Congress in a letter Friday that hostilities with Iran have “terminated” despite the continued presence of U.S. armed forces in the region.

The message from President Donald Trump effectively skirts a May 1 legal deadline to gain approval from members of Congress to continue the war with Iran. That deadline was already set to pass without action from Republican lawmakers who are deferring to the president.

The letter brings into stark relief the bold but legally questionable assertion of presidential power at the heart of Trump’s war, which he began without congressional approval two months ago.

“The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated,” Trump wrote House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the Senate president pro tempore.

But in the same letter, he says tain’t really so.

Yet he also made it clear in the letter that the war may be far from over.

“Despite the success of United States operations against the Iranian regime and continued efforts to secure a lasting peace, the threat posed by Iran to the United States and our Armed Forces remains significant,” the Republican president said.

And what was accomplished? Here’s my short list:

• More countries hate America
• America has fewer allies
• Strait of Hormuz is now closed
• American service members died for nothing

[Robot_Arm]

@Monty

The war is over! So says the person who started it.

So we aren’t blockading Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz anymore?

[steronz]

That’s just a special military activity.

[Moriarty]

@Monty

And what was accomplished? Here’s my short list:

• More countries hate America
• America has fewer allies
• Strait of Hormuz is now closed
• American service members died for nothing

Saying we didn’t win is “treasonous”.

Trump considers it ‘treasonous’ for those to say US not ‘winning’ in Iran |...

[Dr.Drake]

Re: “Trump considers it treasonous”

Well, he should know.

[Monty]

@Monty

The war is over! So says the person who started it.

And Iran says Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.

Iran’s armed forces say it is “likely” the U.S.-Israel war on the country will resume as “evidence shows the US is not committed to any agreements or treaties.”“The actions and statements of U.S. officials are primarily media-driven aimed first at preventing a drop in oil prices and second at extricating themselves from the mess they have created,” Mohammad Jafar Asadi, deputy of the military headquarters, said in a statement carried by Iran’s Fars news agency.

Not a word of what Asadi says is untrue.

[Monty]

I recall Trump saying that thanks to him Iran didn’t execute a bunch of people. So, of course, Iran has executed 21 people and arrested over 4,000 people in the name of national security due to being at war with the US.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Tuesday accused Iran’s regime of dramatically intensifying its crackdown on dissent in the wake of the February conflict, warning that Tehran has carried out executions, mass arrests, torture and one of the world’s longest internet shutdowns while invoking national security.

In a sharply worded statement from Geneva, Türk said at least 21 people have been executed and more than 4,000 arrested on national security-related charges since Feb. 28 as the regime faces mounting scrutiny over what he described as a sweeping assault on fundamental rights.

“I am appalled that, on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict, the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities in harsh and brutal ways,” Türk said.

Since the start of the conflict two months ago, the U.N. said nine people have been executed over the January 2026 protests, 10 for alleged membership in opposition groups and two on espionage charges. It’s estimated some 40,000 people were killed by regime forces during January’s uprising.

[iiandyiiii]

My post from shortly after the war started:

@iiandyiiii

I get that taking the island could harm Iran, but there’s lots of things that could harm Iran. I don’t see how harming Iran in this way significantly impacts the overall circumstances of the war, which are pretty much entirely about the Strait of Hormuz at this point.

For all but the first week or so, this war has been about the Strait of Hormuz. I could have predicted this right after my first Strait of Hormuz crossing security brief in 2005 (my Navy days). Eminently predictable. This war has accomplished nothing but death and destruction and sabotage of global trade. It’s baffling that anyone had the slightest shred of confidence that clowns like Trump and Hegseth could accomplish anything good with this war.

[Monty]

“Let’s win bigger.”

President Trump said Thursday that he is not satisfied with the current standing between the U.S. and Iran, amid stalled nuclear deal negotiations between the two countries.

“We’ve already won, but I want to win by a bigger margin,” Trump told Newsmax’s Greta Van Susteren.

So, does that mean the war he declared over is now Iran War I and the one he wants to win now is Iran War II?

[thorny_locust]

For purposes of requiring Senate approval, anyway. At least, I suspect, in the minds of a few; those few unfortunately including the ones who will matter in terms of requiring a vote on it.

[Monty]

@thorny_locust I really don’t recall the war powers act including a time out provision.

[Folacin]

@Monty

I really don’t recall the war powers act including a time out provision.

Apparently there is a 60 day limit, after which Congress has to approve continued hostilities. The regime is claiming the ceasefire reset the clock.

[Monty]

How sad is it that when discussing a conflict between the United States and Iran, there’s no doubt which one means when one says the regime?

[smithsb]

US is actively shooting down drones, cruise missiles, and destroying small boats attacking US and commercial ships. UAE has also been under attack.

U.S. AH-64 Apache, MH-60 Seahawk Helicopters Sink Six Iranian Boats

[iiandyiiii]

US intel reportedly believes we’ve done basically nothing to impact Iran’s nuke program with this dumb war:

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-intelligence-indicates-limited-new-damage-irans-nuclear-program-sources-say-2026-05-04/

So once again: we started a war of choice, killed a bunch of people (including hundreds of children at the very least), demolished world trade, handed over the Strait of Hormuz to Iran with no plan to dislodge it, and that’s it. We’ve killed people and made the world economy worse and accomplished nothing in exchange.

[thorny_locust]

@iiandyiiii

US intel reportedly believes we’ve done basically nothing to impact Iran’s nuke program with this dumb war:

Other than to probably strongly encourage them to think that they really need some nukes.