War with Iran - is it coming?

Question

From BBC Radio 4 News 1600GMT Sunday, February 25, 2007 - President of Iran says Iran prepared fight war to protect its nuclear industry.

Answer 1

Yes, a war with Iran is coming.

First, the US doesn't have to win this in Bush's remaining time in office. If the US is committed in a war, the war will have to be finished regardless of who takes office. The Bush administration believes the US will eventually win, even if we can't win quickly (US forces are stretched rather thin right now).

Second, the US will become involved in warfare with Iranian forces regardless of whether we bomb or invade Iran. Iran has a strong interest in insuring a friendly Shi'ite government in Iraq or at least a unified non-Sunni government. There's almost certain evidence for at least some Iranian support for Shi'ite militias in Iraq. If the situation in Iraq continues along the path its headed, the US will have to confront more and more of an Iranian military presence (they'll also have to confront more and more foreign support for Sunnis from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries).

Thirdly, Iran is supporting a Shi'ite group in Lebanon, as well (Hezbollah). Hezbollah is contributing to instability in Lebanon and it would help both Israelis and Sunni governments in the Middle East if Hezbollah was weaker.

Fourth, Iran has actually provided support for terrorism. While their level of support isn't exactly state sponsored terrorism, it's definitely neutral to friendly towards terrorists travelling through or seeking refuge in Iran.

Bush could make a much better case for war against Iran than they did Iraq. Of course, Bush could have followed a completely different strategy for both countries.

So far, his approach toward Iran has resulted in a transition from a semi-moderate government that was moving too slow towards international cooperation to a radical government that has become a more serious threat than when Bush first took office.

Edit: Re CAPTAIN BEAR's post: "There is no reason whatsoever for Iran to have nuclear arms because nobody's going to attack them anyway, so, for what sinister purposes do they need them ? From this analysis I think war is iminent and could come sooner than expected. "

Do you see no conflict in those two statements? Bush declared Iraq, Iran, and NKorea part of an axis of evil and we already knocked off the first of the three. Iran and NKorea would be stupid not to go after nuclear weapons as fast as possible.

Answer 2

Probably and, unless the manic President of Iran shuts down his nuclear programme, it can't happen soon enough. Having said that, I expect there will be a strategic bombing operation to eliminate the nuclear processing plants which won't lead to anybody else doing anything other than a few more lost boys (and girls) sent out by non-Iranian countries to become martyrs for a lost cause.

Answer 3

No, of course not. What else can the Iranian President say, he dosen`t want to loose face. Some trade or financial deal will be made with Iran to sort out this problem. No -one wants war, no-one can afford a war. The Iranian army is not well trained enough to go into conflict with America or Britain, they know this as well as anyone.

Answer 4

Yes it's going to come. Iran cannot go nuclear, weapons wise till 2015. Stop being blinded by what our President/dicatator says. It's all about control and oil. Duh, I mean look at Iraq. They're putting up permanent base camps, there's no WMD's, and President Bush said at the start that our men/women would be home by Christmas. That and Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Husein were bitter enemies.

The same people who told you there were WMD's are the same telling us about Iranian's nuking us. If they had the power they would've done it by now. Same goes for Iraq. It's another false-flag war in the works.

If we were going to start a war, why didn't we go in Saudi Arabia? That's where 15 of the 19 terrorists were from. FACT

Answer 5

The U.S. ruling elite must dominate the Middle East if they are to continue to maintain economic dominance against their competitors of China, Russia and Europe on the global scale. Iran's nuclear pursuits are as irrelevant as Iraq's phantom WMDs. Just as Iraq couldn't have used WMD's to attack any other nation without themselves being wiped off the map, the same holds true for Iran. The key to understanding this conflict is the realization of the massive oil and gas reserves, the key shipping lanes and the key geostrategic positioning that the Middle East provides. Yes! I think Iran will be attacked by the U.S.

Answer 6

Iran's chip on shoulder attitude is blatantly daring the US and
its allies to knock it off. From my point of view this is utterly
irresponsible as the world cannot afford the risk especially
Israel to have a neighbor who has sworn to wipe them out.
There is no reason whatsoever for Iran to have nuclear arms
because nobody's going to attack them anyway, so, for what
sinister purposes do they need them ? From this analysis I
think war is iminent and could come sooner than expected.

Answer 7

The leader of Iran is war-mongering. He is inflating the situation so that his people will have a common hate for Americans. By having a common hate for Americans the people will be blinded as to how messed up he is, the president of Iran. But let us hope and pray that it does not come to that.

Answer 8

I think Bush needs removing from power as he is developing into a modern day dictator. The USA seem to think that they can bully every body into there way of thinking. We are all paying a price for the "American dream"

As for the Iranian presidents chip on his shoulder, its probably got more sense and the ability to string a literate sentence together than that moron in the US.

Answer 9

Unlikely. Only because US forces are so over stretched in the Mideast that even if the US were to just do a bombing campaign of Iran if the 300,000 Iranian terrorist army were to rush into Iraq &/or Afgahistan isolated US forces could very easily be overwhemled.

Answer 10

I think it's a very real possibility. And if Iran follows through with its threat of nuclear weapons, all bets are off.