Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
35 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
What will the world do when the US and Israel nuke Iran? (Original Post) malaise Yesterday OP
Nobody is ForgedCrank Yesterday #1
Maybe, but I think Donald is dying to drop a nuke so it'll make him feel like a man Walleye Yesterday #2
Don't be so sure that won't cross a line that provokes, if not an open mutiny, then conspicuous noncompliance... JHB 19 hrs ago #34
But the US and Israel can have them? malaise Yesterday #3
Hello! How about North Korea? And they are working hard on ICBMs that might one day reach US hlthe2b Yesterday #11
Precisely malaise Yesterday #13
How would ForgedCrank Yesterday #22
Yesterday Israel fired a missile right next to a nuclear power plant, gab13by13 Yesterday #6
Tell them malaise Yesterday #15
The only part I disagree with is moonscape 19 hrs ago #32
This is trump and netanyahu. Nothing is off the table for them. Scrivener7 Yesterday #12
50/50 chance of fire theirs or hide OC375 Yesterday #4
The good news is AnnaLee Yesterday #5
Not sure BeyondGeography Yesterday #7
I'm with you on that malaise Yesterday #8
I fear Trump will use tactical nukes in Iran at some point. sop Yesterday #9
For what ForgedCrank Yesterday #21
Effectively neutered. Wednesdays Yesterday #24
There have ForgedCrank 23 hrs ago #25
Sortie rate is way over that now: EX500rider 22 hrs ago #29
I haven't ForgedCrank 22 hrs ago #30
Boots on the ground may prevent the use of a nuke Ferryboat Yesterday #10
The Republicans in Congress are already coming out and saying they Baitball Blogger Yesterday #14
I don't think the US will use one first, but Pakistan has always been the wild card for me Ponietz Yesterday #16
9 countries have the bomb gab13by13 Yesterday #17
The hypocrisy of the US when it comes to nukes is pretty obvious. IMO, we lose cred pretty quick. walkingman 23 hrs ago #26
A Question That Should Never Have Been Asked... Kid Berwyn Yesterday #18
Was just reading this malaise Yesterday #19
somebody remind them radioactive oil is worthless cynical_idealist Yesterday #20
If US/Israel nuke Iran, Russia will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. thought crime Yesterday #23
Trump, Putin and Netanyahu all need to be dragged from power. Initech 23 hrs ago #27
take iodine? /nt bucolic_frolic 23 hrs ago #28
Just remember: Bayard 20 hrs ago #31
I don't think they would nuke Iran because Trump JI7 19 hrs ago #33
Pariah nations as a result BeneteauBum 16 hrs ago #35

JHB

(38,232 posts)
34. Don't be so sure that won't cross a line that provokes, if not an open mutiny, then conspicuous noncompliance...
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 07:27 PM
19 hrs ago

...and I wouldn't rule out open mutiny, either.

Everything he's done so far has been below a certain threshold. Remember all the generals and admirals seething at Kegsbreath's scold-session?

hlthe2b

(114,015 posts)
11. Hello! How about North Korea? And they are working hard on ICBMs that might one day reach US
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 09:35 AM
Yesterday

Yet, not a comment about N. Korea having nukes. At all.

Still, the deterrence factor is something we tend to ignore. Had Ukraine not been forced to give theirs up by very foolish American and some European forces who promised to protect them in exchange, they might not be in a now 4-year plus war with Russia.

ForgedCrank

(3,104 posts)
22. How would
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 11:36 AM
Yesterday

you suggest we ban them? Make a law or treaty?
I guess the entire planet would all agree and then actually abide by it?

gab13by13

(32,360 posts)
6. Yesterday Israel fired a missile right next to a nuclear power plant,
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 09:24 AM
Yesterday

When Israel blows up a nuclear power plant it will have the same consequence of using a nuke.

I am positive that Iran has made plans to respond in kind if Israel blows up one of its nuclear plants.

By the bye, anything that Israel does in this war we own it.

Krasnov has zero say when this war will end, Israel has troops in southern Lebanon looking to expand its territory, we own that.

Isreal will not stop until it owns Gaza, the West bank and a part of Lebanon.

You may have missed it, yesterday Krasnov said the invasion was about taking Iran's oil, not about keeping it from getting a nuke.

moonscape

(5,732 posts)
32. The only part I disagree with is
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 07:18 PM
19 hrs ago

‘… a part of Lebanon’ - I think they want it all.

They are using Hezbollah as an excuse to bomb civilians, order the displacement of 20% of it’s population. It’s akin to a foreign country telling 70 million Americans to leave their homes because the bombing will begin. Sometimes it’s with barely enough time to run out the door.

But it’s worse. Lebanon is a small, more densely populated country. Where are they all supposed to go? They are in tents, shelters, on the streets, in cars, at friends/relatives, while their homes are destroyed.

How the hell is the world allowing this? They are openly saying they intend to take part of the country, flatten it, an area proportionately the size of CA/AZ/NM to the United States. Then they’ll continue in Beirut where they’ve been bombing,

All this land grab by, and enabled by, super powers is outrageous!

T has his own shopping list.

OC375

(962 posts)
4. 50/50 chance of fire theirs or hide
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 09:19 AM
Yesterday

Same as anyone in any horrific situation. You don’t know til it’s tested.

BeyondGeography

(41,111 posts)
7. Not sure
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 09:28 AM
Yesterday

But to me it feels if we get through four years of Trump without a nuke it’s a win.

sop

(18,681 posts)
9. I fear Trump will use tactical nukes in Iran at some point.
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 09:30 AM
Yesterday

"Tactical nuclear weapons are low-yield, short-range nuclear devices intended for use on the battlefield to destroy specific targets, such as troops or installations, rather than whole cities."

ForgedCrank

(3,104 posts)
21. For what
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 10:46 AM
Yesterday

purpose would we use nuclear weapons against a nation that is all but effectively neutered at this point?
What you should be actually worried about is the deployment of ground troops and the level of ecological terror that Iranians may unleash, similar to what Iraq did to the oil wells a couple of decades ago. They are already actively engaged in such behavior by lashing out at global energy stability. When we deploy ground troop, and yes it will happen sooner or later, it'll be the same old war via sabotage and hit-n-run warfare by pockets of resistance who are bent on doing as much of any kind of damage that they can.
Deployment of ground troops, regardless of what anyone will say publicly, is almost always required in order to actually secure objectives. In this case, it will be hunting for enriched materials for nuclear weapons, and remaining stockpiles of missiles and drone weapons that Iran will continue to use to terrorize the region as long as they have them.
Being disgusted with Trump is one thing that we may all share, but let's not forget who the Iranians really are and what they do.

ForgedCrank

(3,104 posts)
25. There have
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 03:27 PM
23 hrs ago

been 6 thousand sorties flown and what they called a navy no longer exists, yet you want to believe Chinese and other media gossip offerings and the predictions of CNN talking heads? Preposterous. And much of the info in those DU posts has already been proven false.
They have shot down 2, 50 year-old aircraft in 5 weeks, the best of which is operating a 20 year-old radar system and legacy EPAWSS. In the end, we'll lose more troops and equipment to accidents than we will at the hands of what's left if the Iranian military.
So yes, effectively neutered. No one is under any illusions (well most of us anyway) that fighting a war can be done without casualty, regardless of the opponent. But to suggest that they are a serious threat to the operational goals is outright laughable at this point. Oh wait, they must be waiting for just the right moment to stop all of the destruction? Please. The only thing the Iranians are capable of at this point is the same thing they started with, and that is scattered terrorism, which further supports the idea that what is happening needed to happen a very long time ago. This was a Democratic party foundational position until very recently for some reason.
I am sorry that it bothers you, but we aren't losing. An occasional lucky shot does not a viable enemy make.
We can all equally despise Trump, but it makes no sense whatsoever to take a position that defies reality.

EX500rider

(12,596 posts)
29. Sortie rate is way over that now:
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 04:13 PM
22 hrs ago
As of early April 2026, U.S. and coalition forces have conducted over 13,000 missions and struck more than 12,300 targets in Iran during the ongoing conflict.

ForgedCrank

(3,104 posts)
30. I haven't
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 04:59 PM
22 hrs ago

been keeping close tabs on ops, but that number doesn't surprise me in the least and only further reinforces my point. I appreciate the updated info.
I understand the outrage over war and I share everyone's disgust with the raw realities of it, but the position some are taking is starting to wear me thin is all. Hell, we have people here posting garbage from Iranian state media and obvious AI fakes etc. It's almost as if many are rooting for the terrorists just out of spite and I find that just as distasteful as the war itself. Sometimes it's enough to make me question my associations and I feel like I am losing my party. Geez man, there's plenty of real reasons to be disgusted by Trump, we don't need to be making crap up and spreading false propaganda and gossip. When I say something, I prefer that people to actually believe me rather than quietly thinking "is this more bullshit he read on some kook twitter post again?".
Bottom line is that Iran is certainly dangerous in it's own way, but not a serious threat to operational goals. They are most certainly not a contender that can face the might of the American military. If you give enough people a box or rocks and a sligshot and put them in the right spot, eventually one of them will hit a helo rotor just right and bring it down. That doesn't make them a formidable military threat.

Ferryboat

(1,265 posts)
10. Boots on the ground may prevent the use of a nuke
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 09:33 AM
Yesterday

Every war game ends the same about 10 days after first strike. That shit never stays in the neighborhood.

Baitball Blogger

(52,394 posts)
14. The Republicans in Congress are already coming out and saying they
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 09:38 AM
Yesterday

will not sanction this war. Which means Trump has a month to finish what he started.

If he nukes Iran without Congress' approval, there is not better reason to 25th him.

Ponietz

(4,343 posts)
16. I don't think the US will use one first, but Pakistan has always been the wild card for me
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 09:46 AM
Yesterday

They’re hand-in-hand with China in leading diplomatic efforts. But an undeclared war already exists with the Taliban, and the ceasefire with India is tenuous at best. Armed conflict on 3 borders is extremely destabilizing. Pakistan lurches from one domestic emergency to another and doesn’t have the resources to care for its own people. Iran would love to have a Pakistani nuke and, sooner or later, Sunnis and Shiites will ally against the larger threat. It’s difficult to imagine a future where Pakistan’s nukes aren’t in play.

gab13by13

(32,360 posts)
17. 9 countries have the bomb
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 09:58 AM
Yesterday

Only 1 of the 9 has ever used a nuke, so my bet is on the one who used it before.

walkingman

(10,890 posts)
26. The hypocrisy of the US when it comes to nukes is pretty obvious. IMO, we lose cred pretty quick.
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 03:35 PM
23 hrs ago

malaise

(296,267 posts)
19. Was just reading this
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 10:35 AM
Yesterday
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/apr/04/occasionally-a-picture-can-change-the-course-of-history-33-scandalous-photos-that-shocked-the-world

Words can tell a story, but it’s pictures that will make you believe in it. Such is the power of a photograph; the ability to strip away illusions, to illuminate something hidden, and sometimes force us to accept unpalatable truths. When it comes to scandal, seeing is believing – occasionally even to the point that a picture changes the course of history.

How might life have been different for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had he not been photographed clutching the midriff of the 17-year-old girl he would later claim he had never met? Without this haunting triptych of the former prince, the late Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein’s fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell, hovering in the background, there would have been nothing physical to connect the then prince with a trafficking victim. Though for years Andrew’s friends insisted that the photograph must have been doctored, buried within the Epstein files recently released by the US Department of Justice is a note from Maxwell that appears to confirm it is real.

——-
Bestie Jeffrey is not going away

thought crime

(1,592 posts)
23. If US/Israel nuke Iran, Russia will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 02:16 PM
Yesterday

And it's off to the races.

Initech

(108,815 posts)
27. Trump, Putin and Netanyahu all need to be dragged from power.
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 03:36 PM
23 hrs ago

And sent to meet Satan. Along with their minions, helpers and enablers.

JI7

(93,648 posts)
33. I don't think they would nuke Iran because Trump
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 07:20 PM
19 hrs ago

would see it as making it difficult to get the oil which he thinks belongs to him.

BeneteauBum

(525 posts)
35. Pariah nations as a result
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 11:00 PM
16 hrs ago

Let’s hope not. It would be opening Pandora’s box. In addition, it would either be the immediate end of the Trump regime or the permanent demise of our democracy.

Peace ☮️

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»What will the world do wh...