Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in Israeli strike, ending 36-year rule

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/1123499337/iran-israel-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-killed

by andsoitis • 5 months ago

473 827 5 months ago

Either this will end in a fractured state with different factions OR another Ayatollah will be in charge. Just my guess from seeing similar stories play out in other countries though....

adamiscool8• 5 months ago

Even as we speak, Ayatollah Razmara and his cadre of fanatics are consolidating their power!

bombcar• 5 months ago

It’s Ayatollah Rubio.

indubioprorubik2• 5 months ago

Maybe .. the revolutionary guard is fed up though with ineffective empire rule? Like to be rubbed in the dirt face first repeatetly as inheritor of the mighty persian empire sucks bad enough, to reconsider the way things are run? Sorry, but whatever israel & the us are doing, seems to work way better than - whatever has happened the last decades in iran?

ReptileMan4• 5 months ago

Even as we speak Israeli missiles are target at him.

XorNot2• 5 months ago

"Mission Accomplished"

mkoubaa2• 5 months ago

We have such short memories don't we

hnthrowaway03153• 5 months ago

I think maybe the reformists are able to hold on now that the IRGC is being hammered. There might be more internal bloodshed but chances are that Iran might be a bit more open and more modern. Of course I have zero knowledge about how Iran politics works, so that was just a guess, not even an intelligent one.

BTW I don't actually think even the reformists will "accept Western ideas".

suoloordi• 5 months ago

Iran is not like other countries in the region. Despite its shortcomings, it's a cohesive society. I'm certain that there will be no fracturing and a central authority will emerge.

elcritch• 5 months ago

Indeed, I'vve already read about an opposition government being organized.

christkv2• 5 months ago

From my reading I get the feeling it has more in common with Spain and Portugal before the fall of the dictatorships.

throwaway203715• 5 months ago

    > Iran is not like other countries in the region. Despite its shortcomings, it's a cohesive society.

This is a weird comment. I would also describe Jordan, Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia as cohesive societies.

2OEH8eoCRo0• 5 months ago

Best of luck to the people of Iran. Be safe! I'm praying for the best!

hattimaTim2• 5 months ago

They can not sadly. As the monsters of america and israel have free license to kill anyone, they will kill anyone they want to make their god happy. In the case of iran, they already killed 100+ girls in a school even though they have perfect intelligence and precision attack tech.

brap• 5 months ago

Good riddance

vkou• 5 months ago

You shouldn't celebrate the killings of heads of state, that would set a bad precedent.

ReptileMan4• 5 months ago

Quite the opposite - if they know they are risking their lives they would be more reasonable.

TulliusCicero17• 5 months ago

If more dictators fear for their lives: good.

oytis6• 5 months ago

How is it bad? Imagine a world where instead of sending hundreds of thousands young men to die, countries would just launch targeted attacks on the head of enemy's state.

kingofmen2• 5 months ago

We already have a bad president.

jatari3• 5 months ago

If he didn't want to be assassinated maybe he shouldn't have killed all those people.

4ndrewl3• 5 months ago

In a FIFA World Peace Cup year as well. Is nothing sacred?

le-mark• 5 months ago

Netanyahu is leading Trump around by the nose apparently. And here we all thought Putin owned Trump. How the wheel turns.

abraxas• 5 months ago

Those are not mutually exclusive. He is still Putin's bitch as well as Netanyahu's.

mingus88• 5 months ago

Trump appears to be for lease.

amarant2• 5 months ago

Nobody owns trump, you can't buy him.

Trump is for rent. Shutting down a competitor is 25M, "full service" is apparently ~100M. I'm not privy to what invading an oil nation costs, but I reckon it's akin to a hand job, so a nice golden wristwatch should probably do it?

gpderetta• 5 months ago

The Board of Peace admission price is $1B apparently.

thomassmith657• 5 months ago

The Iranian diaspora around the world is celebrating. Here's the scene in Berlin:

https://youtu.be/NSbx_0mtk80?si=MJ_Bfvx8gVd1P1mm

They've waited a very long time for this moment!

paganel2• 5 months ago

What moment would that be? Begging for the Americans to bomb their former country?

Almondsetat4• 5 months ago

At some point you have to decide: if my country is held back by a brutal dictatorial regime where civilians can't hope to topple it, is there anything else to do other than get external help?

thomassmith657• 5 months ago

Yes.

10 million Iranians live outside Iran. They want a normal country again.

Later today, I'm sure footage from LA, Toronto, London, Stockholm will be up.

aaa_aaa3• 5 months ago

Are they cheering killing of dozens of school children as well?

thomassmith657• 5 months ago

No, obviously.

Actually, they will probably assume the IRGC killed them to blame the West. I don't believe that, but the Iranians can't stand the regime.

pinkmuffinere5• 5 months ago

Nobody is happy about killing civilians. But Khamenei did more than that every day he was alive. Personally I feel there is some amount of immediate civilian casualty that is worth putting a stop to continuous suffering.

kubb2• 5 months ago

I have no doubt that they didn't like that the regime, which is why they left.

But this assassination is no guarantee of change for the better. Far from it.

pinkmuffinere5• 5 months ago

It’s no guarantee, but it is a good opportunity. I’m half-Persian, and certainly not as closely connected as others, but it’s hard to see this as a bad thing. There’s a possibility I can go visit my family in Iran as a result of this. I haven’t had a good chance for that in like 4 years

thomassmith657• 5 months ago

They're not brain-damaged. They know that!

oytis6• 5 months ago

It's not a given - e.g. AFAIK most turks in Germany support Erdogan

faramarz• 5 months ago

It's less a revolution and more a matter of catching the tide of shifting world powers — and seizing a rare shot at building something other than the last failed experiment. New Iran, new experiment. You bet Iranians are euphoric right now. Some of the country's brightest intellectuals and political minds are sitting in Evin prison, and if all goes well, they're about to walk out and help shape what comes next. My dad is worried about the power vacuum, and he's right to be. His biggest concern is the border states and the narrative that ISIS is being funneled into the country to destroy any chance of organized transition. I desperately hope he's wrong. And I don't think he'll ever fully heal — few who lived through the first revolution will.

regnull• 5 months ago

It’s a good start

timtim51251• 5 months ago

That why they are going beyond that and going after the IRGC

ndiddy• 5 months ago

Yeah I'm not sure why people think that the Iranian government never considered any sort of continuity for what happens when their 86 year old ruler dies. It's not like they're ants that are all helpless without their sole supreme leader.

Haven880• 5 months ago

Another Ayatollah is being ushered in. This is no news. Khameni is old and without the missile, he would be dead soon. This sttike is just bonus to galvanize support for Ayatollah. So in a way Trump prolong the regime. And consequence from this: every other middle east countries now starting their nuke program. Good luck.

anovikov2• 5 months ago

Well, in any case, it is a guarantee that Iran will be less of a danger for other nations if the regime falls, and that people inside of the country will suffer - because either pro-Western or any other government is bound to be a lot weaker, and there will be a lot more violence and economic disruption, eventually economic degradation. It should avenge the emigrants, and provide sufficient punishment for those in Iran for enabling this regime in the first place.

Let's not have illusions about it. There is no way to build a sustainable democracy in a country that never had such leanings and is not culturally/religiously predisposed to it, and can't be physically coerced into it with boots on the ground. Achievable goals are punishment, and neutering.

SanjayMehta2• 5 months ago

It depends on how well the regime brainwashed its people over the last 50 years. The majority of Iranians haven't any experience of anything else - I think around 55% are under 40 years old.

There's a US born professor Marandi who said in an interview a few weeks ago that the regime had put in place succession plans, including for himself.

I'm hopeful but skeptical that they will change for the better.

baxtr6• 5 months ago

Not only outside the country, but also inside the country! Many many videos on social media showing how they celebrate.

tejohnso• 5 months ago

There would likely be millions of Americans celebrating the murder of their current president, should that happen. It doesn't mean it's reasonable, right, just, or civilized, nor would it indicate that it was a unanimously supported action.

TulliusCicero17• 5 months ago

But in the case of an actual dictator who murdered thousands of protestors it is reasonable, right, just, and civilized.

Shed no tears for the deaths of tyrants. They would happily see you and any other threat to their illegitimate power put six feet under.

thisislife22• 5 months ago

Exactly. This is just western media trying to project some morality to what was an internationally illegal act ... (and perhaps some in the media hoping against hope this publicity would please the dear, glorious leaders of Israel and the US to end the war).

bambax5• 5 months ago

Not just Americans.

cameldrv• 5 months ago

Perhaps, but there would be tens/hundreds of millions of people like me who didn't vote for Trump and don't like him, but would be absolutely enraged beyond perhaps anything in this country's history if another country blew up the White House and he was killed.

throwawayheui5710• 5 months ago

They threw the justice and civility when they murdered people on the street. That ship has sailed and the party who's responsible for this escalation is the government.

avoutos3• 5 months ago

Well, there are other things you can look at. For one, Khamenei was dictator of a regime that abducts women and recently murdered 10s of thousands of protesters in the streets. I'd reckon most, including Iranians, would not judge the killing of such an individual immoral, unjust or uncivilized.

jatari3• 5 months ago

The entire continent of europe would be celebrating.

nicbou• 5 months ago

I can hear them from my window. They're really happy. Lots of honking, revving engines and shouting near Zoo.

paxys2• 5 months ago

Easy to celebrate from a few thousand miles away.

I'm not saying the Ayatollah wasn't a vile criminal, but it's always innocents on the ground who face the brunt of war.

I hope the citizens of Iran can have a peaceful transition and chart a better path for their country, but every single one of America's previous forced regime changes in the region (and across the world) has shown otherwise.

throwawayheui5710• 5 months ago

Oh you should see the videos coming out of Iran from people celebrating.

I also just saw state tv threatening people once more. They're so scared.

acjohnson553• 5 months ago

If I were in their shoes, I would be celebrating, too. But this is complicated. If they and their loved ones are already outside the country, they are not directly imperiled by the power vacuum. So the upside is maybe their homeland becomes hospitable again, but the downside is basically that it remains inhospitable.

I'm not saying that the diaspora doesn't care about the risks or have empathy for those that remain in Iran. I'm sure there are also many people who are deeply concerned. Just that being an emigre changes things.

aucisson_masque6• 5 months ago

Expatriates behaviors are often misleading and don't represent the general feeling inside the country.

I'm not saying that Iranian loved Khamenei, but maybe they are not that happy that he is dead because of other reasons. Instability for instance.

_3u103• 5 months ago

Not really, expats help shape the narrative and bring external help to make their views the reality.

avazhi2• 5 months ago

Aside from a few members of the IRGC, everybody who has been paying attention for the past 40 years is celebrating.

Taking out both Maduro and Khomeini over the course of a few months without a single American or Israeli casualty is peak.

pjc502• 5 months ago

There were allegedly 7 US personnel injured during the Maduro raid.

Decapitation airstrikes have been possible for decades. I suppose now we find out whether that was a good idea or not. Slightly surprised the Iran strike worked, if you remember the hunts for Saddam and Bin Laden.

alchemism• 5 months ago

Murdering heads of state and their families is cool as Judge, Jury, and Executioner if no soldiers are hurt in the process, is that where we are now?

tim3337• 5 months ago

People celebrating inside Iran too https://x.com/visegrad24/status/2027840034150178952

thomassmith657• 5 months ago

That's very moving! I can't say many international developments have filled me with optimism the past couple years. I want so badly for this to pan out for Iranians.

sph4• 5 months ago

All I see is cameras panning around buildings, no humans in sight, and audio of cheering people. Not saying it's fake, but in the age of AI faking such a video is child's play.

Too low signal-to-noise ratio for me to acknowledge any of this. We'll see how it will pan out for the Iranian people in due time.

Rapzid4• 5 months ago

Hopefully from this the conditions will materialize where they could, if so inclined, help build Iran up in the future..

consumer451• 5 months ago

Also please see: https://old.reddit.com/r/newiran

Remember Kian.

wiseowise5• 5 months ago

They're all paid actors! CIA agents! Orange revolution!

penguin_booze• 5 months ago

Do enjoy the moment while it lasts. Because the next ruler will be an American stooge. This isn't going anywhere, like the other "revolutions" in the middle east.

UltraSane10• 5 months ago

At least a sane stooge.

sph4• 5 months ago

Henry Kissinger is looking up and smiling.

anovikov2• 5 months ago

What's wrong about it? This is the goal - like in Syria: neuter the country by bringing in a pro-American government that will ensure country will stay weak and irrelevant, in exchange for letting it terrorise locals as they please.

TacticalCoder• 5 months ago

Because the next ruler will be an American stooge.

And if that's the case, do you think that American stooge shall do worse than Khamenei who ordered his islamist guards to slaughter 30 000+ unarmed iranian protesters in a matter of days?

What can be worse than religious extremist sending their fanatics into hospitals to finish the wounded?

I'm in the EU and I see cars with iranian flags honking. Someone posted a video or iranians celebrating: not bearded men and veiled women (which is a sign of religious extremism: there are many muslims that do not have the islamist beard and many muslim women who aren't veiled) but regular people, celebrating.

I don't doubt that many bearded men and veiled women are very sad today.

But I side with the free iranians in exile who are celebrating what may be the end of four decades of sharia law ruling their country.

lucasRW2• 5 months ago

This has nothing comparable with "other revolutions" in the middle east, it's quite the opposite in fact: a non-islamist population held under the tyranny of islamist leaders.

jojobas2• 5 months ago

So what, you'd take living under an American stooge's rule over a religious fanatic's any day.

tdeck3• 5 months ago

It's interesting that they're all flying the flag of the Shah.

sph4• 5 months ago

The son of a Shah that was deposed by mass protests by well-educated students and intellectuals during the Islamic Revolution, who are now in their 60s.

Time is a circle.

jhoechtl• 5 months ago

The dispora means little though, the people in the country count as they live 365 days there without the convenient ability to comment from a distance and they are ones who would have to die for a turnover.

y-curious2• 5 months ago

You mean the ones who cannot comment because their authoritarian theocratic regime blocked protest and the internet? I hope that changes for them

kjfarm2• 5 months ago

I think this is a good point, there is evidence (even with strict censorship controls in place) that people inside the country are celebrating https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/world/middleeast/iran-kha...

lucasRW2• 5 months ago

There are similar scenes in all Iranian cities. Literally the first morning video we could see Saturday morning before the internet shutdown, were ladies on their balcony jumping of joy that they had struck Khamenei's neighbourhood.

jmyeet3• 5 months ago

People should never treat the diaspora as representative of any population other than the diaspora.

This issue comes up with Cuba a lot. A lot of Cuban-Americans hate Castro. Why? Because they were the upper-middle class to wealthy under Batista.

This history becomes almost comically distorted. Senator Ted Cruz said that he hates communists because his father was tortured by... Batista [1].

So let me give you an example of the Iranian/Persian diaspora. In 2024 in particular we had a lot of protests against Israel's genocide in Gaza and American support for it. Many were on college campuses. One was on UCLA.

In April 2024, masked counterprotesters attacked the protesters and the police stood idly by and let it happen. The police later then used this violence as a reason to crack down on the protesters. So who were these counter-protesters? Persian diaspora [2].

Anyone celebrating this knows nothing about history and honestly nothing about Iran.

First, Khamenei isn't a singular autocrat like Basheer al-Asaad or Saddam Hussein. No decapitation strike is going to result in regime change. Did you notice the Iranian response change after Khamenei's death? No. Because there isn't one. The religious governmental institutions still exist. A temporary successor was appointed. The IRGC continues as is. Iran is a functioning state that will continue without its Supreme Leader.

Second, let's just say that the Iranian government does fall apart. That's going to be incredibly bad for Iranians as you'll either get a fail-state like Libya, Syria or Somalia (which is what Israel wants) or you'll simply get an American puppet.

Do you know who the American puppet in Syria is? Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly an al-Qaeda leader. Do you think that's going to end well? Saddam Hussein was an American puppet. Until he wasn't. The former Shah. Augusto Pinochet. That's who you get when the US installs a puppet regime.

Maybe you think Iran will get a functioning democracy. They had one until the US overthrew it in 1953.

Do you really think the US cares about Iranians? Like at all? What exactly is being celebrated here?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/I2AdbLDVb0Q

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/16/us/ucla-student-protests-coun...

inglor_cz5• 5 months ago

"That's going to be incredibly bad for Iranians as you'll either get a fail-state like Libya, Syria or Somalia (which is what Israel wants) or you'll simply get an American puppet."

Iran is one of the oldest continuing political units in the world, clocking over 2500 years as an organized state.

I think you seriously underestimate the capabilities and know-how of the Iranians by expecting them to behave the same way as pre-state tribal polities like Somalia.

slim• 5 months ago

berlin is spooktown. everything you see is staged

somenameforme5• 5 months ago

I'm not sure that Iranians in Berlin holding signs written in English are necessarily widely representative, nor entirely organic. Here's a comparable scene of what's going on in Iran for mourners of Ali Khamenei: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QQMGijEMJfc

I'm not saying this to be argumentative. I do not know what the "real" internal state of is in Iran in terms of support/opposition for their leadership, and I don't think there is anyway to find out this information. Our media will lie, and so will theirs. And people themselves will also lie, and not even necessarily intentionally. Imagine polling Americans (let alone expats long since removed from America) on what percent of Americans they think support Trump without knowledge of polls/votes to inform them.

As a result I think most of all media along these lines is much more likely to mislead rather than inform.

snthpy• 5 months ago

In March 2020 l was glad about the oil price dropping to below $20, but very concerned about the state of the world.

wesammikhail• 5 months ago

Honeeeeeeeeey get in here, the board of peace officially declared its first war!

Bring the popcorn with you. No need for salt cause everyone got that in spades on both sides.

ludicrousdispla• 5 months ago

it makes perfect sense when you realize they just misspelled 'bored'

cess112• 5 months ago

I'd rather wait until it is confirmed.

hirpslop• 5 months ago

This may or may not lead to a weaker Iran. From FP: “Iran is frequently portrayed as a political order bound tightly to individuals. Yet the architecture that emerged after 1979 was formed by a different logic, one founded in the revolutionary experience itself. Khomeini captured this hierarchy in a remark (https://abdimedia.net/en/ruhollah-khomeini/system-ahead-life...) often cited within Iran’s political elite: “Preserving the Islamic Republic is more important than preserving any individual, even if that individual were the Imam of the Age”—a reference to Shiism’s 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi. It is still unclear whether the system will always follow this principle. But one should expect a change in leadership in Tehran to be treated less as an ending and more as a chance for the country’s institutions to show they can survive.”

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/28/iran-khamenei-ayatollah...

joshkojoras• 5 months ago

It was about time. I hope the opposition in Iran takes charge and gets into power before they find another religious leader.

FilosofumRex2• 5 months ago

there is no opposition in Iran, they're mostly in DC and Tel Aviv...

ozgrakkurt• 5 months ago

yess, the experience so far makes it obvious. They will be democratic and their gdp will go up by 6900% now. There won't be devastation, people starving to death, meaningless hindsight or anything like that.

FilosofumRex2• 5 months ago

there is no such opposition in Iran, they're mostly in DC and Tel Aviv...

tastyface2• 5 months ago

"There are reports of US/Israeli strikes on or near the homes of former Iranian pres, Ahmadinejad, former reformist presidential candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and various leftist activists. If the US/Israel really wanted the 'people' to take back the country, they wouldn’t assassinate these folks"

https://bsky.app/profile/msjamshidi.bsky.social/post/3mfwmdx...

zdragnar• 5 months ago

One of the foundational principles of a stable government (though not the only one) is a monopoly on the use of force.

Unless the military and other armed groups back the civilians, whoever they end up backing will rule.

steve-atx-76004• 5 months ago

Only one side has the guns currently

omnee• 5 months ago

In isolation the death of this brutal dictator is great news, but we have seen how previous decapitation strikes have not had the intended effect. And I can only hope the Iranian people somehow end up better for this entirely illegal war that the Trump administration has initiated, instead of facing up to a fractured leadership and a potential civil war.

hit8run• 5 months ago

Today is a good day.

kingofmen2• 5 months ago

President Trump announced the Iranian leader's death on social media, saying Khamenei could not avoid U.S. intelligence and surveillance. A source briefed on the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran told NPR earlier Saturday that an Israeli airstrike killed Khamenei.

This does not seem to me like very strong evidence? Trump just says whatever, and "a source briefed on [the attacks]" just means at least one person in USG thinks Khamenei was in whatever house they blew up. Am I missing some other confirmation?

ReptileMan4• 5 months ago

If he is not dead - Iran will have to show him - and he will be double tapped.

Jensson3• 5 months ago

He is dead, Iran state media confirmed a couple of hours ago.

pavlov2• 5 months ago

The killings of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were so amazingly successful in stabilizing those countries that Americans keep repeating the pattern.

mkoubaa2• 5 months ago

It's almost like they are either stupid or the point was never about stability

TulliusCicero17• 5 months ago

Not a killing, but capturing Noriega did in fact work out well. Panama of today is generally stable and rich (by Latam standards anyway).

jacquesm4• 5 months ago

Panama's main asset can't be removed from Panama.

sph4• 5 months ago

This is prime cherry-picked propaganda bullshit. What about Augusto Pinochet, to name drop a counterexample? How did that work out for the Chilean people?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet#U.S._backing_...

xannabxlle2• 5 months ago

I'm tired of Israelis killing innocent people

pjc502• 5 months ago

This was has killed a lot of innocent people. Khamenei was not one of the innocent.

TulliusCicero17• 5 months ago

Ah yes, the poor innocent dictator minding his own business while killing thousands of protestors.

bambax5• 5 months ago

If what matters is the number of people killed, the next two should be Putin and Netanyahu. Yet I have a feeling that will not happen.

xannabxlle2• 5 months ago

Falling for the same lies as "Saddam's WMDs" in 2026 is crazy. Keep that energy with Kim Jong Un, or Netanyahu. Oh wait, Israel is America's boss.

garbawarb• 5 months ago

To any Iranians of HN: how do you feel about the current situation, and what's the sentiment of Iranians abroad?

throwawayheui5710• 5 months ago

Iranian here! Lived most of my life inside Iran. I don't view US's actions as a favor to common Iranians. That's naive. No one wants war and bombing of civilians. Our misery is caused by a mix of religious extremism, theocracy and foreign intervention (in the past, Mossadegh, etc.) among other things. First and foremost I hold the regime responsible. For most of my life, I witnessed firsthand how they pushed us step by step closer to confrontation with the US, yet there's no single bomb shelter in Tehran or any major city for people to run to after 47 years of this shit. How would you feel in this situation?

Their opposition to Israel is not from a humanitarian and moral standpoint, it's purely religious. They have no shame admitting this. You just have to listen to one of the 5 state TV channels in Farsi. I even think Palestinians would fare better if not for these extremists on either side!

All that said, the supreme leader is the one who commands the murder of innocents in the streets, so he had it coming. Good riddance and he died like the rat that he was. But as to what happens next? No one knows. Also I personally don't think US is doing this because they want Iran's oil. I believe they want to put pressure on China to not get Iran's cheap (under sanctions) oil. That seems more plausible to me.

*typo edit

swingboy3• 5 months ago

The US is doing this because Netanyahu visited Trump in the White House 7 times last year. It’s not about oil, protestors, or nuclear weapons: it’s about Israeli hegemony in the region.

righthand7• 5 months ago

Any time we drop bombs we set ourselves up for more pearl harbors or 9/11s. Just stupidly foolish decision most people involved won’t have to see the consequences. Especially since we’ve destroyed our soft power. What is the next step? More stupidity. We are Americans we all cheer for spectacle regardless of reason. My fellow citizens are stupid and I don’t support the troops anymore or any military that has let all this happen.

mvdtnz• 5 months ago

Parent asked for comments from Iranians.

leke• 5 months ago

I've asked this question to an Iranian colleague and his response was that it was extremely welcome and even though they know there will be collateral damage, it's better than suffering under a regime which have killed and will continue to kill many more people than what these strikes will do.

hnthrowaway03153• 5 months ago

If the hard-liners IRGC generals went with him then it might be a good thing for its economy. I have heard some rumors that China was frustrated that IRGC pushed against the deals and were not willing to accept foreign investments in key oil/infra projects because they sit on them -- and that was why China never put down any real investments after signing the deals.

eunos2• 5 months ago

IRGC or whatever succeed next should wise themselves and stop hedging about whatever next deal with US/EU.

hnthrowaway03153• 5 months ago

I think the biggest problem of IRGC is that they grabbed a large share of economy but spent a lot of that in geopolitical expansion for the last 1-2 decades. This in turn contributed to a more fragile Iranian economy and high inflation, which makes them extremely unpopular among the people.

estearum4• 5 months ago

No matter who steps up, Trump's actions make clear they have only two options:

1. Permanent subjugation to western countries, to be unilaterally abused whenever they felt like it, or

2. Race to the nuke as fast and as secretly as possible

underlipton4• 5 months ago

Why would a regime that came to be, ultimately, precisely because of foreign meddling in resource extraction ever entertain more foreign meddling in resource extraction, especially when it's levered with "or else we'll kill you."?

SethMurphy5• 5 months ago

If the United States truly supported regime change there should be a clear next leader favored to succeed the Ayatollah, otherwise this feels more like a favor to oil companies, raising prices temporarily, and a sound bite for political gain, without a care of what happens to the country later. Simply toppling a government seems quite risky without further planning. Just expecting "good" people to fill the leadership vacuum is a gamble that could easily backfire and lead to greater crackdowns on freedoms and death to those Trump told to go get the power.

eunos2• 5 months ago

I'm not discounting that Trump is thinking he could back another Pahlavi and restore the Peacock Throne.

Dig1t3• 5 months ago

Obviously has nothing to do with oil companies or oil, this is a war on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu visited Trump 6 times in the past year. Prominent Zionists and Israelis inside the US have been agitating for the US to do this for years, especially since Trump took office last year.

SethMurphy5• 5 months ago

Wars are almost always about commerce, history has shown that. Ideology is used to back the motive publicly, but the reason for involvement is almost always trade or commerce. This case could be different, but it is not obvious to me that this case is any different. A simple example is WW1 where the US was forced to back the UK because of their large debt to US banks, despite them still being a colonist power at the time.

swingboy3• 5 months ago

I believe Netanyahu has visited 7 times now at this point. In a single year.

dispersed• 5 months ago

Trump hasn't provided any evidence of his death and is quoted as saying something very non-Trumpian here: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/live-blog/israel-iran-liv...

Earlier, Trump addressed reports that Khamenei was killed in airstrikes today, saying, “We feel that that is a correct story.”

This doesn't sound like Trump's typical bluster, and it's even weirder that Trump didn't immediately go on TV to brag. I'm not saying this is fake news, but I'll wait for confirmation.

casefields• 5 months ago

Maybe you should contact Iranian state tv because their promoting what you claim is an incorrect story: https://x.com/marionawfal/status/2027940530982625471?s=46

small_model• 5 months ago

If true, and given how easy it seemed decapitate the regime I can't see another Ayatollah taking over, hopefully the people take over and institute a real secular democracy based on capitalism.

grey-area• 5 months ago

Without proper support and a huge nation building effort, the same fate as Lebanon, Syria, Lybia Iraq, Afghanistan is the more likely outcome after this evil dictator is gone.

Assassination doesn’t remove the system or rewrite the balance of power, nor does it reconstitute civil society.

XorNot2• 5 months ago

Why not? If there's one thing that's been proven over the last 20 years it's you can just outlast America.

lostlogin• 5 months ago

The secular democracy in that region is hardly helpful in terms of peace.

ReptileMan4• 5 months ago

Ding dong the witch is dead. Let's hope other witches follow his steps.

bossyTeacher• 5 months ago

Why didn't he flee? This was a long time coming

TulliusCicero17• 5 months ago

It's definitely odd if he was just sitting in his compound. That's a very, well, known place for him. Surely Iran has plenty of secure underground bunkers for leadership to retreat to?

fourseventy• 5 months ago

Apparently they hit the compound with 30+ bunker busters. So perhaps he was in a bunker but the bombs still got him

bjourne9• 5 months ago

Fleeing is seen as dishonorable in many parts of the Arab world. Remember the Israeli lies about how Yahya Sinwar dressed in women's clothes and were trying to cross the border to Egypt? In reality he was out in the field with his men killing Israeli soldiers. He died a brave death and Khamenei will now have died one too.

pygar• 5 months ago

His daughter, son-in-law, and the defense minister were also killed, as they were all in his residence at the time.

If he decided to stay for ideological reasons, they would not have been there.

My guess is that they might have misinterpreted the US's demands as starting positions while the US considered them to be final. Who would expect a country that can produce ballistic missiles to willingly give it up? It was a non-starter from the beginning.

g8oz2• 5 months ago

America and Israel are lawless countries. Can you imagine other countries assassinating a foreign head of state and not getting immediate blowback?

bamboozled• 5 months ago

My thinking is that, it's good when it works in your favor, but one day it night not, and if it doesn't well what recourse is available then?

powerpcmac• 5 months ago

Fine, you got me. We will expedite another billion in aid to Israel to make up for it.

TulliusCicero17• 5 months ago

There's no such thing as a legitimate dictator, and every one of them belongs six feet under.

SkyeCA• 5 months ago

America and Israel are lawless countries.

The truth of the world, as much as we may hate it, is that at least at the state level might makes right.

danny_codes• 5 months ago

Well not right, but effective in the short term. In the longer term I assume this kind of policy is destabilizing and bad for everyone

hackable_sand• 5 months ago

Try again

steve-atx-76004• 5 months ago

Said another way, if you don’t kill your enemy before he kills you, you die. Human nature hasn’t changed. I think it just gets forgotten.

cucumber3732842• 5 months ago

You can't see the french or Russians doing the same thing in Africa? Because I sure can. There's be some hand wringing and posturing but that's about it.

Not that it's ok for the US, or anyone else to do it.

davidguetta• 5 months ago

International law is below its ability to bé enforced

muzani5• 5 months ago

I prefer assassinations of leaders in wars over deaths of soldiers and especially civilians.

Considering how Israel had to raze entire cities to beat 'Hamas' or the US dropping nukes in WW2 instead of bombing the Japanese Emperor. This is decent as far as wars go.

deaux5• 5 months ago

Considering how Israel had to raze entire cities to beat 'Hamas'

They didn't, they just had to stop funding them, as Hamas has been funded by Israel.

jasomill2• 5 months ago

To the extent that they're actually effective, I agree.

Trouble is, higher-ups are easily replaceable, and the rank-and-file True Believers may be even more willing to follow orders in the name of a dead tyrant than a living one.

Or not. Sic semper tyrannis. Best wishes to the people of Iran.

ekjhgkejhgk• 5 months ago

Considering how Israel had to raze entire cities to beat 'Hamas'

1) Israel didn't "have" to raze anything, they chose to.

2) "Beat Hamas" is an excuse for Israel to do what it wants, which is to raze entire cities.

throwaway203715• 5 months ago

    > I prefer assassinations of leaders in wars over deaths of soldiers and especially civilians.

To me, this argument doesn't hold water. Think about some counterexamples: (1) Netanyahu and Gaza. Surely, 100K+ civilians died as a result of that war. (2) Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Vietnam. A staggering number of civilians died in that war. (3) GW Bush in Afghanistan and Iraq/2.

My guess: All of those leaders are responsible for more innocent civilian deaths in each conflict than Khamenei's entire reign.

To me, I am very conflicted about the assassination of Khamenei. Yeah, he did a bunch of bad stuff and was very destabilising in the region, but I need to draw the line at assassination. It was unnecessary. It is a slippery slope.

TiredOfLife2• 5 months ago

Russia tried many times in Ukraine. No blowback.

sschueller• 5 months ago

What are you talking about? Russia has effectively been blocked from the west while when the United States invaded Iraq nothing happened. Europe trades with the US like nothing ever happened while Russia will never return to what it was before without at minimum Putin being gone.

Europe even still trades with Israel when what they have done is Gaza has been declared a genocide by everyone. At the same time Russia can't even take part in the Olympics or the Eurovision song contest.

The west has no moral ground to stand on and hopefully people in the west will start to see that.

shell0x3• 5 months ago

The EU should do more to move away from being dependent on america . America is a hostile nation and should be treated like Russia and China.

y-curious2• 5 months ago

EU needs the US so much and every time I see this comment, I remember why. Too many idealists running the EU

hearsathought2• 5 months ago

America and Israel are lawless countries.

America is as much a victim of israel as iran is. You act like we have a choice in this matter. We are forced to cut funding for food programs, education, healthcare, etc because of soaring debt. Yet, we'll take on any amount of debt for israel's wars. It's amazing how we've become a slave of such a small nation.

Can you imagine other countries assassinating a foreign head of state and not getting immediate blowback?

It's simply a matter of power. Who is powerful enough to do the enforcing of laws or punishing of bad actors? Might makes right.

msuniverse2026• 5 months ago

In my opinion the real problem for Iran lies in the north, on the border with Azerbaijan.

The Israeli-supplied Azeri military has already demonstrated its effectiveness when it curb stomped the unprepared and internally betrayed Armenian military and militias. Baku will eventually decide to intervene in the northern territories. If I had to guess, a "special military operation" into northern Iran is the most likely follow-up scenario goaded into and supplied of course by Israel/US. The goal will be to foment a civil war and begin the dismemberment process of Iran.

A little personal conspiracy theory I have is that after the last Israel/US intervention (when they mysteriously liquidated the only high-ranking and influential internal opposition of the Khamenei clan left) is that some sort of deal was worked out behind the scenes with the clan to get rid of the wizard-in-chief kinda like how Maduro was sold out. It is much easier to go to war with a country when it responds with only symbolic attacks and secretly promises to fight with one hand behind its back - provided cash and security flows for those at the top of course.

1a527dd5• 5 months ago

I wonder how old the rest of the commentators are. I watched the Shock and Awe campaign. I watched Saddam fall. I remember thinking this is great.

Years later, I understand it was a complete folly. Removing Saddam in itself was good but what it did the wider region was not good.

heavyset_go7• 5 months ago

This will be the start of something that never ends

TulliusCicero17• 5 months ago

Yes, whether these strikes are a good idea in general depends on whether they make life better for the regular people of Iran imo.

That said, fuck Khamenei.

paxys2• 5 months ago

Every new generation in America learns this same lesson the hard way.

You and your children will be paying the bill for this war for the rest of your life.

Oil and defense companies will get richer.

Nothing will change in the middle east.

judahmeek2• 5 months ago

That's oversimplifying.

Iranian regime-allied forces were a big part of why Iraq was such a quagmire.

The balance of power in the Middle East is shifting from the Sunni~Shia schism that it once was.

Most of the remaining powers are willing to actually engage in diplomacy with Israel & prefer secular groups to Islamist groups.

There's still personality conflicts, such as the one growing between the heads of Saudi Arabia & the UAE, but the general trend seems to be very promising.

csmpltn5• 5 months ago

You seriously don’t think Iraq is in a better place today than it has ever been? You miss Saddam?

dfadsadsf• 5 months ago

Iraq right now is in roughly the same position as it was when Saddam Hussein was there but in the meantime a few million people died and the country went through a pretty traumatic period.

aucisson_masque6• 5 months ago

You seem to forget that Irak instability was a big part of the reason why we got to deal with ISIS in the first place.

I say that ISIS was worst than Saddam.

acjohnson553• 5 months ago

No one misses Saddam.

Parts of Iraq are much better off, like Kurdistan. Other parts were utterly devastated by our operations, insurgency, sectarian violence, ISIS, and so on. Some people had religious freedom and now live in areas under theocratic control.

impossiblefork4• 5 months ago

When Saddam Hussein was removed, the result was that basically all Iraqi Christians who hadn't fled were murdered. There are probably as many Iraqi Christians in the EU as there are in Iraq now.

wfdsf2• 5 months ago

One thing I notice on here is very few people understand counter intuitive stuff.

As you said.. plenty of evidence where on the surface it seems good. But in reality it turns out to make the people in the region worse off.

deaux5• 5 months ago

That, combined with extreme short-termism and unbridled optimism. All three probably having a similar root cause.

And we see this across the board. A canonical one that remains prevalent: "If only people would've come out and voted for Kamala in 2024, we wouldn't be in this mess". But then if you follow the pattern, with the candidate she was and what she would've done, this would've secured an ultra-MAGA victory in 2028 (and likely already by 2026 midterms). One more extreme, more devious, more intelligent from the get-go than the current one. People like to cling to "but you don't know that for sure", which is true, but we do know that with about 90% certainty. Betting on 10% is an awful idea and is indeed what has gotten you to where you're at.

It's the single biggest reason for the huge power shift from the US to China. Almost anything that China does is based on long-term consequences. Pain today for gain over time. Of course there are counterexamples, but by and large this holds.

In this case, sure, many Iranians will be happy for a day - especially overseas. So that's what people focus on. People have entirely lost the ability to think realistically in years. Of course part of this is biological, we're monkeys. But there are many reasons to believe that this ability has greatly declined over the last 50 years, particularly in the West and especially in the US.

calf3• 5 months ago

One would think on HN there would be sophisticated grasp of complex systems than Reddit or what have you, so either there are just as many politically dogmatic/biased people in tech, or political threads are dominated by non-tech users, or what?

avaika• 5 months ago

Removing Saddam in itself was good but what it did the wider region was not good.

I believe this is the legacy of leaders like Saddam. They build a very messy future for their countries. Whenever such a leader is gone, somebody has to take over power. Dictators tend to concentrate as much power in their hands as possible. Forced removal of such a leader might accelerate and / or destabilize power transition. Which might end up in a very messy scenario.

Absolute power transition worked well with monarchy in the past, cause everybody knew who would be the next guy, there were rules and procedures. With dictatorship often times there are no rules. So power transition might turn into a complete chaos even with a natural death of a dictator.

Bender• 5 months ago

Taking out Saddam allowed the Taliban to get right back to the raping of the Opium farmers wives and children. Not saying I approved of Saddam but I did enjoy the way he had originally curtailed the risk to his Opium revenue.

Rapzid4• 5 months ago

I turned 18 about 6 months after 9-11.

Going to take a night off from worrying about forever wars and celebrate the end of the Ayatollah and Ali Khamenei.

baxtr6• 5 months ago

I am old enough. Iraq is not perfect today but so much better than it was. Go talk to Iraqis and see for yourself.

It costs us some time, money and lives to get to this point. But Saddam (a tyrant who killed his own kind in masses with gas and started wars with neighbors) staying in power would have been way worse for the wider region.

AlecSchueler• 5 months ago

I think the point being made is that there's wider fallout than just what's directly affected. If you go to Syria and ask Syrians how they feel about the affects on the wider region they might not so readily agree. Or even ask Iraqis in the border region who lived through ISIS rule.

seydor2• 5 months ago

So what about libya, syria, yemen, afghanistan, even venezuela

plus you can't know how Iraq would be today without the invasions

beloch• 5 months ago

Iraq is a fantastic lesson to heed today.

In the first gulf war, Bush Sr. refused to occupy the country. He viewed it as too difficult and too expensive. In the second gulf war, Bush Jr. declared victory from the deck of an aircraft carrier, occupied the country, hunted and executed its leader, and then opened the U.S. treasury to deal with the aftermath. Thousands of Americans died. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's died. The occupation was long and difficult, but its end was still premature and left a power vacuum that ISIS raged into, causing even more destruction. Perhaps Iraqi's can say they're better off today than under Hussein, but a terrible cost was paid. Most of the blood was Iraqi, but most of the treasure was American.

The financial drain on the U.S. was extreme enough to expose the world's preeminent superpower as being unable to bring the occupation of a somewhat backwards and minor dictatorship to a successful conclusion. Iraq is not a big country, in either population or area, but it was still too much for the U.S. to control, even with willing allies. This failure made the world realize there were severe limits to what the U.S. can do. Sure, it might defeat the military of a middle or even major power, but occupy and control it? Fat chance!

In the days ahead, the U.S. military is going to bomb anything that moves and looks like it might shoot back, as well as a lot of infrastructure and probably a decent number of civilian targets by mistake (or design). Trump has framed this invasion as being directed towards eliminating Iran's nuclear program, so expect a lot of facilities in close proximity to civilians (and many of those civilians) to be vaporized.

If Trump is listening to his generals even slightly, he will not try to occupy the country. He'll declare victory and move on to whatever outrage is next to maintain his "Flood the zone" strategy and keep the Epstein heat from finally catching up with him. If that's all he does, this will be another war like Bush Sr.'s. Expensive, but not ruinously so. U.S. deaths will be in the hundreds and not the thousands. Iran will most likely fall into the hands of another mullah or descend into chaos, becoming a long-term security quagmire that will probably continue to bleed the U.S. for decades to come. Even if democracy does take root in Iran, it likely won't be a democracy that's friendly to the U.S..

If Trump isn't listening to his generals (who reportedly advised against the invasion to begin with), he might try to occupy Iran. Iran has double the population and four times the land area as Iraq. Unlike Bush Jr., Trump has not even tried to stitch together a coalition to share the costs. It's unlikely that many countries would be dumb enough to sign on now. There's no NATO article 5 pretext to drag in other NATO countries. There isn't even a falsified pretext like WMD's to quiet the howling in the UN. Israel isn't the kind of help the U.S. needs because the U.S. pays most of Israel's military bills to begin with. In short, if Iraq strained the U.S.'s finances close to the breaking point, Iran will ruin them completely. There's absolutely no way the U.S. can afford to occupy Iran.

Even if Trump cuts and runs, this war will ensure American's can't afford socialized medicine for another generation.

inglor_cz5• 5 months ago

Iraqi path to democracy isn't really that different from everyone else's.

People tend to forget that various extant democracies, including European ones, mostly didn't precipitate out of thin air by everyone deciding to just be nice to one another. Many now-democratic countries had to fight a war of independence or a civil war, often with involvement of third parties, to get there.

France took about 80 years of violent upheavals from 1789 to 1871 to actually become a democratic republic for good. Germany was even worse. Unification of Italy was a long bloody mess. Poland barely survived the 20th century. Even Swiss direct democracy is an aftermath of a civil war, though in their case, it was a small one.

Democracy isn't an application that people just install and it starts working. It usually takes decades for it to take roots, as people have to slowly abandon the idea that it is just easier to massacre their opponents.

Even the US came to be after a war of independence with a major external factor on their side (the French) and only ended slavery through a nasty civil war.

Iraq isn't really an outlier in that context and Iran wouldn't probably be either.

righthand7• 5 months ago

Always convenient to drop bombs and say “it would have been worse”. With absolutely no proof of that. It’s the stupidest American talking point and I despise other Americans who use that propaganda.

righthand7• 5 months ago

And you frequently fly over to Iraq and explain that to the people there right? They nod in agreement with you. “We had to bomb and occupy your country and kill your citizens just like Saddam did remember? Now you’re better off after our failed occupation left your country. We’ll bomb you anytime; sure it costs us money is and the reason neither of our countries have healthcare but who needs healthcare when you have bombs and propaganda. You’re welcome.”

golden-face• 5 months ago

It's not guaranteed to be the same outcome in Iran, we're just rolling the dice again and hoping it is.

regularization2• 5 months ago

a tyrant who killed his own kind in masses with gas and started wars with neighbors

The US sent Saddam the Bell helicopters to gas the Kurds. US military aid increased after that happened.

The war with a neighbor was with Iran - the country the US just attacked, and which the US encouraged Iraq to fight. That's why Rumsfwld was over there shaking Saddam's hand.

FeloniousHam• 5 months ago

I agree. The military component was a resounding success. The "de-Baathification" was a disaster and gets lumped into the decapitation of Sadaam's regime.

We'll never know the counterfactual, but it seems likely that the banning from public life everyone with ties to the current government was a large contributor to the collapse of the country and rise of the terrorist groups.

softwaredoug• 5 months ago

In this case I bet they rotate Khamenis until they find someone who will capitulate like in Venezuela.

Thats the hope at least. Seems like a completely different situation though. It could just as easily end up an unstable mess like Libya

jmyeet3• 5 months ago

We created Saddam Hussein. He was our foil against Iran. We propped up a war that killed over a million Iraqis and Iranians in the 1980s for no net strategic result.

And why did we want to punish Iran? Because the fundamentalist regime overthrew our puppet (the Shah).

And how did the Shah come to be a dictator, essentially? Because we overthrew the liberal democracy Iran had in 1953 at the behest of the british because Iran had wanted to control their own oil and BP wasn't happy.

Even the fundamentalist regime in Iran is kind of America's fault. Saddam Hussein expelled Khomenei from Iraq in 1978 (IIRC) because when it became clear that Iran was lost, we wanted the fundamentalists to take over instead of the communists because we didn't want Iran to fall into the Soviet sphere of influence.

It's also a pretty similar story with Osama bin Laden.

As payback for Soviet support for North Vietnam, we supplied arms to the rebels in Afghanistan after the USSR invaded. Supplying Stinger SAMs to the mujahadeen was particularly devastating and these included Osama bin Laden.

Isn't it weird that all this foreign interference always go badly and all these former puppets somehow end up becoming huge problems for us later? When will we learn, exactly?

It's also worth noting that there was a strong desire in American policy circles to overthrow Saddam well before 9/11. 9/11 and the fake WMD story just became the excuse. For example, in 1998 a bunch of people sent a letter to then President Bill Clinton urging him to invade Iraq and topple Saddam [1]. Just look at the signatories on that letter and what part they played in the War on Terror.

[1] https://zfacts.com/zfacts.com/metaPage/lib/98-Rumsfeld-Iraq....

PolygonSheep2• 5 months ago

It's because we do these things not for American interests, but for the interests of a small country that has captured our political establishment through campaign finance and blackmail.

heavyset_go7• 5 months ago

Thank god we're kicking 5 million people off of their health insurance in 2027, otherwise we would not be able to afford all of these bombs.

culi3• 5 months ago

There was a clip of one of Iran's missiles dodging 3 Patriot interceptors to hit the US base in Bahrain. I realized I just watched $12m wasted for nothing in less than 5 seconds.

aucisson_masque6• 5 months ago

That's your money that's being Squandered yet you have no say in the decision to wage this war, nor your representative.

palmotea3• 5 months ago

There was a clip of one of Iran's missiles dodging 3 Patriot interceptors to hit the US base in Bahrain.

Link?

poilcn• 5 months ago

They are not supposed to intercept ballistic missiles anyway,it's THAAD's job

w10-1• 5 months ago

This claim and the offer of immunity may be intended more to reduce Iranian resistance than to represent reality.

(I would not rely on immunity from a nation that left collaborators on the tarmac in afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam?)

Rapzid4• 5 months ago

Immunity from the USA maybe. I would hope the new Iranian government would prosecute people for crimes appropriately.

UltraSane10• 5 months ago

Approximately 370,000 Hmong Americans live in the U.S. largely due to their alliance with the CIA during the Vietnam war.

bonsai_spool6• 5 months ago

Approximately 370,000 Hmong Americans live in the U.S. largely due to their alliance with the CIA during the Vietnam war.

Correct, but how does this invalidate OP’s assertion? Are you saying that there are no collaborators who were left behind in Vietnam after supporting the US?

If I recall correctly, even getting the Hmong here was a political lift that some opposed

thisislife22• 5 months ago

Israel, Trump claims Khamenei killed, Iran denies - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/2/28/live-israe...

csmpltn5• 5 months ago

All the angry people here coming out of the woodwork in this thread. Where were you just a month ago, when the Iranian regime murdered 30k of its own civilians within just a couple of days, during the recent wave of protests? This site is infested with woke moralists and islamists.

avoutos3• 5 months ago

It's remarkable to me how many seem to forget there is "morality" apart from "legality". Even if this does violate some treaty somewhere, we need not wring hands over the death of an objective dictator.

palmotea3• 5 months ago

Even if this does violate some treaty somewhere, we need not wring hands over the death of an objective dictator.

We absolutely should. It's a key principle of international law that brutal regimes should not be disturbed, until an opportunity for a regime change brokered by international lawyers presents itself in a century or two. Moral legitimacy comes from international law, and international law only.

seanmcdirmid• 5 months ago

What country in the Middle East has actually gotten better after removal of a bad status quo, in the last 26 years? I really can’t think of any. Is even Iraq considered a success?

C6JEsQeQa5fCjE• 5 months ago

Is even Iraq considered a success?

For Israel, absolutely. Improving the victim countries is not the aim.

swingboy3• 5 months ago

Each one has worked out pretty well for Israel.

PolygonSheep2• 5 months ago

I really can’t think of any. Is even Iraq considered a success?

It was for Netanyahu, and that's the important thing here.

AnimalMuppet• 5 months ago

Iran confirms: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/latest-israel-launches-a...

_zagj2• 5 months ago

Looks like Russia's Shahad drone supply chain just got disrupted.

mna_• 5 months ago

Russia has a license to make their own in Russian factories, but this will decrease Russia's overall supply.

konart3• 5 months ago

Russia does not import Shaheds for years now. Modern versions where developed in Russia and are produced on Russian soil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelabuga_drone_factory

"As of late spring 2025 Russia has been producing around 170 Geran-2 drones per day, with indication that a total of around 26,000 Gerans were produced by Yelabuga drone factory"

lostmsu2• 5 months ago

There might be something to read between the lines for Putin.

Ray204• 5 months ago

Putin has nuclear weapons. What does he have to fear?

lostmsu2• 5 months ago

An assassination.

IAmGraydon• 5 months ago

Smart strategy by the administration - go after people who are universally hated (Maduro, Khamenei) so you can normalize breaking the law and no one will speak out against you or they're a supporter of said hated people.

icar• 5 months ago

In 1953, Iran was a secular and democratic country. They had elected a prime minister who decided to nationalize the oil industry. The US didn't like this and overthrew him. They imposed a brutal monarchical dictatorship. Popular discontent led to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The ayatollahs, to a large extent, existed because of US interference.

The same is true for all the instability in the Middle East, entirely manufactured by the West.

Action-reaction, cause-effect: You never know how a story will end. And after the 1979 revolution, the CIA and British MI6 provided the ayatollahs with lists of communists to exterminate, which they did. Imperialism always prefers to deal with theocracies rather than communists. https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-britain-helped-irans-isla...

wqaatwt9• 5 months ago

In 1953, Iran was a secular and democratic

That glosses over a huge amount of details. Calling it democratic is a huge stretch.

They had elected a prime minister

The election of 1952 were rigged (seemingly by both sides) and not free at all. The vote was even stopped early and almost half the seats left empty.

Mosaddegh was also already in power (being appointed by the Shah) before these “democratic” elections and his reforms were already underway.

Ray204• 5 months ago

Imperialism always prefers to deal with theocracies rather than communists.

Communist regimes are also a form of theocracy (proof can be found in the writings of any communist leader). It's just that, unlike other theocratic regimes, other countries have to deal with millions of starving refugees (because the communist faith requires banning food production or something like that, I don't know much about their religion).

CodinM• 5 months ago

This is skimming over the important details, "democratic" is really stretching it.

I also liked the idea that oh look Iran was this liberal country and whatnot but unfortunately it's just not true.

andriy_koval• 5 months ago

The US didn't like this and overthrew him.

sure, US invested resources, and new government decided to take it for free by force. Why wouldn't you wrap this as original action?

jacknews• 5 months ago

"American heroes may be lost", Trump said. He argued this would be a necessary price to pay to inflict damage.

lol. "Some of you will lose your lives. But that's a price I'm willing to pay"

mixxit• 5 months ago

Good

throwaway742• 5 months ago

RIP

seydor2• 5 months ago

Good, Trump can now claim victory and shout some words in his third-world-dictator style, and american sailors move out of the region. Stock market is opening tomorrow and it doesnt want to see ugly things

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm4• 5 months ago

If you want to accurately predict the future, look no further than following prominent Israeli Americans and whatever it is they are after.

Mikhail_Edoshin• 5 months ago

To celebrate deaths this way is satanic.

littlestymaar• 5 months ago

I don't think anyone should shed a tear for Khamenei's death, but I'm not convinced the current trend of regime decapitation is setting the world in a desirable direction.

I'm convinced that with current technology (namely, drones) any half competent state actor can easily assassinate any world leader, and I wonder if the recent US actions aren't going to make the practice commonplace, with dramatic destabilization risks. (For instance think about Air Force One being shot down during landing by an FPV drone controlled over LTE from somewhere in South America by a Cuban intelligence officer).

impossiblefork4• 5 months ago

It's pretty obvious that these dictators etc. are legally civilians and that this kind of thing is against the laws of war.

Traditionally even people like the US president, who is technically commander in chief, kings etc. with formal military ranks but who are not real battlefield decision makers etc., have been regarded as civilians.

Cipater11• 5 months ago

I work with and know a lot of Shia (non-Iranian) Muslims and listening to them talk about this assassination I'm convinced that the likelihood of attempted terror attacks against the US has increased significantly.

The non-Iranian part is key. Millions of muslims around the world viewed the Iranian theocracy as the only power in the world fighting for Islam. They are devastated.

echelon_musk• 5 months ago

I can't recommend Heretic by Ayaan Hirsi Ali enough.

CoastalCoder3• 5 months ago

For those of us who haven't read it, could you explain why it's salient on this topic?

Cipater11• 5 months ago

I don't think doctrinal reformation is possible with Islam.

The Qur'an is totally prescriptive. It contains direct legal commands, judicial rules and explicit government principles which are all binding and considered as direct divine speech.

I think Westernisation and an increase in the number of "casual" muslims is and will continue to be the moderating effect.

Think of what is happening in Europe (as the clearest example) with the influx of Muslim immigrants who raise increasingly more assimilated children as the blueprint.

reactordev4• 5 months ago

I was just saying this to someone this morning. Iran’s theocracy was the only one that has withstood the Middle East political wars in Jordan, Syria, Afghanistan, etc.

To rephrase it… if The Middle East was the UK, Iran would be British. If the Middle East was the US. Iran would be California.

quotz• 5 months ago

The Middle East was the UK, Iran would be British.

Did you mean England perhaps, not "British"?

breppp6• 5 months ago

Jordan political system is much older than Iran, as well as the Saudis and others. Iran theocracy is a new phenomena in the Middle East, ushering the implementation era of political Islam, later continued by ISIS, Hamas and the milder Qatar and current Turkey

dfc• 5 months ago

I was with you until you said California. You think that Californians are understand Southern or Midwestern culture?

animuchan• 5 months ago

Another good analogy would be, said theocracy is (was?) like a very bad piece of legacy code, impossible to refactor, until the entire feature gets thrown in the trash.

everdrive• 5 months ago

Well except for all those Shia in Iraq who more closely followed Ali al-Sistani. I still imagine they're not very happy all the same though.

UltraSane10• 5 months ago

Sunni Muslims hate the Iranian regime and consider Shia to be heretics

inglor_cz5• 5 months ago

This is not completely true. The Iranian regime gained some credibility in the Sunni world by strongly supporting the Palestinian cause.

You can bet that every anti-war demonstration in the West now will have as many Palestinian flags as flags of the Iranian Islamic Republic.

Stranger coalitions have been put together by politics...

Cipater11• 5 months ago

Every single one of them?

There are many Sunnis who view their leadership as "traitors to the cause" and respected Iranian defiance especially against Israel.

It's far from black and white.

esalman3• 5 months ago

I am Sunni and I condemn the attack.

Having said that, I also condemn Iranian regime killing (reportedly) 30000 protesters. So he probably had it coming.

I'm more concerned about what happens to US now, because I think the attack indicates a complete failure and collapse of the legislative branch of the US government.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm4• 5 months ago

Only people who live on social media believe these extreme views to be true. Most muslims hardly even know the difference or care.

newyankee• 5 months ago

Well if you take religious interpretations to do the extreme they hate all 'non believers'. I am assuming that even the Sunni Muslim countries' average population might not be that happy with the bullying (their perception)

markus_zhang3• 5 months ago

The "good" part is that Sunni Muslims probably won't have the same feeling, or do they?

But I agree with the assessment. I'd definitely avoid large public events. Darn the world is becoming more and more chaotic and we are just waiting for China to put up the last piece to make it into 19th Europe.

CoastalCoder3• 5 months ago

China to put up the last piece to make it into 19th Europe.

Could you elaborate for us non-historians?

dotancohen17• 5 months ago

Sunni Muslims generally oppose Shias in Muslim-internal matters, and vice versa. But they both generally support the other in matters against non-Muslims.

rayiner11• 5 months ago

Sunni Muslims will be upset too, because Israel was involved.

lm284692• 5 months ago

Why do you bring up China here? Trump has done more harm to the west in 10 years than China in the last century

kjfarm2• 5 months ago

I think the responses are very diverse throughout the region. Got example, in Karachi protestors gathered outside a consulate https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-protesters-attacked-us-c...

But inside Tehran (and in my neighborhood of D.C.) there have been celebrations https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/world/middleeast/iran-kha...

Cipater11• 5 months ago

Any celebrations are an indicator but are far from the entire picture.

Wouldn't there be celebrations in the US if Trump died? What conclusions would you draw from that?

konart3• 5 months ago

But inside Tehran...

where both celebrations and sorrow

nerdyadventurer7• 5 months ago

But inside Tehran

This is done by diaspora lead by US, they started destroying public resources first and created public unrest on top of falling Rial due to sanctions, this lead the govt take matters in to their hands. Cunning US indeed, always playing cheap tricks.

RaftPeople• 5 months ago

I have a friend that left Iran just before the Shah was overthrown. Over the years he has gone back multiple times to visit family and friends etc.

He told me years ago that the majority in Iran were not aligned with the new regime, it was a minority of the population that were.

anon2916• 5 months ago

I mean Pakistan is a nation founded on the idea that Muslims cannot live with non Muslims. /R/Pakistan is currently talking about this. What do you expect?

somenameforme5• 5 months ago

The most interesting thing to me is that he was apparently assassinated while working at his office. It's not like the US/Israeli actions were a secret, yet he seemingly made no effort to secure himself. It's hard not to see this as an intentional martyrdom. So it will be interesting to see whether his calculations were correct, or whether the US' were.

The one thing I think must be true is that I can't imagine an 86 year old cleric was an especially effective leader. So assassinating him is quite the gamble. I'd love to know what the military's chatbots thought about this idea.

Cipater11• 5 months ago

I'd love to know what the military's chatbots thought about this idea.

What a mad world we're hurtling ourselves into.

wiseowise5• 5 months ago

Prophets are more dangerous when they're dead. At 86 he would either die from old age or fighting "imperialistic, evil" Israel/US.

dotancohen17• 5 months ago

Why would you assume that someone with decades of experience could not be an effective leader?

urikaduri• 5 months ago

He was assasinated during a meeting with many other high ranking members of the regime. I doubt they decided on collective suicide.

ifwinterco• 5 months ago

Supposedly he had a very deep bunker under his house but he came up for meetings.

So the real problem for Iran is that mossad seem to know exactly when he was vulnerable i.e. there are spies within the inner circles of the IRGC

Edit: Or some very effective high tech surveillance, but that's also not good news to put it mildly

throwawayheui5710• 5 months ago

intentional martyrdom

He didn’t play 4D chess. I’d bet on pure hubris.

vovavili• 5 months ago

I have seen major celebrations here in a major Dutch city. If anything, my bet is that overall balance of Muslim opinion on the West has probably shifted to be more favorable.

jojobas2• 5 months ago

Both can be true at the same time.

dotancohen17• 5 months ago

Are you suggesting that the US should appease Muslim ideology, under threat of terror?

Cipater11• 5 months ago

No, I am telling you about people's sentiments. You are not required to do anything with the information.

nerdyadventurer7• 5 months ago

This is not about Muslim idealogy at all, it is US want to play god on who to have nukes or not. Similar to Libiya WMD.

lm284692• 5 months ago

Muslim idealogy

If you can't differentiate muslims from islamists you can probably keep your comments for yourself...

jimmydoe2• 5 months ago

Anyone live in a metro in a major western country should feel legitimately feared, the chance of lone wolf just 100x-ed.

ndsipa_pomu5• 5 months ago

This is likely what the USA fascists want - some Islamic terrorist attacks (possibly false flag operations) will provide a justification for removing non-whites from the USA.

rayiner11• 5 months ago

The non-Iranian part is key. Millions of muslims around the world viewed the Iranian theocracy as the only power in the world fighting for Islam

Yup. My Bangladeshi relatives who have no stake in Iran are upset. I suspect the lady who cuts my daughter’s hair—who was an accountant back in Iran and celebrated when Jimmy Carter died—is over the moon.

anon2916• 5 months ago

We cannot continue like this where one religion gets to get mad whenever they do not achieve utter dominance.

jpster• 5 months ago

the likelihood of attempted terror attacks against the US has increased significantly.

And one wonders if a terror attack on US soil would be the justification POTUS uses to cancel elections

spaghetdefects2• 5 months ago

Terror attacks? I think you mean self-defense, as the US/Israel just bombed Iran with no justification at all. That is a terror attack.

ChoGGi• 5 months ago

Well, no they were trying to get Epstein out of his bunker... I mean free the oil from the people, err no, the people from the regime.

Someone start playing fortunate son.

rayiner11• 5 months ago

I’m quite sympathetic to the general assertion that the U.S. launches unprovoked attacks on random countries that didn’t attack the U.S. Iraq being the most egregious example.

But Iran is perhaps the least sympathetic actor on that front. Iran has been attacking the U.S. and its proxies for no reason for decades: https://www.britannica.com/event/1983-Beirut-barracks-bombin....

Tehran is a thousand miles away from Tel Aviv. Iran has no rational self-interest in whatever is going on between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Iran got itself involved in that conflict because it inexplicably chose to involve itself in that conflict.

weregiraffe• 5 months ago

Oh, so they ARE in fact death cultists! Thanks for confirming that, I guess there's a lot more work for bombs.

SegfaultSeagull2• 5 months ago

First, the Islamic Republic was not “the only power fighting for Islam.” It was fighting to expand Iranian state power under a religious banner. There’s a difference. The regime’s foreign policy has consistently followed geopolitical logic: expanding influence through proxies in Lebanon (Hezbollah), Gaza (Hamas and PIJ), Iraq (Shi’a militias), Syria (Assad), and Yemen (Houthis). That’s empire-building through asymmetric warfare, not some abstract defense of the global ummah.

Second, Islam itself is not a single centralized political bloc. The idea that “millions of Muslims” saw Tehran as their champion ignores deep sectarian and national divides. Sunni-majority states like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, and Turkey have spent decades actively countering Iranian influence. Many Arabs view Persian expansionism with suspicion for historical reasons that predate modern geopolitics by centuries. Even within Shi’a communities outside Iran, loyalty to Tehran is far from universal.

Third, the Islamic Republic’s model is explicitly totalitarian: clerical rule, suppression of dissent, morality police, imprisonment of reformers, execution of protesters. Calling that “fighting for Islam” collapses a complex global religion into one revolutionary state ideology. Many Muslims—Sunni and Shi’a—despise the regime precisely because it fuses religion with authoritarian control.

As for retaliation risk: yes, whenever a regime that funds proxy groups is hit, the risk of attempted attacks rises. That’s true by definition. But that risk has existed for decades already because of the regime’s own strategy of exporting violence. The question isn’t whether risk increases from zero. It’s whether removing a state sponsor that systematically arms, trains, and finances militant networks reduces long-term capacity for global destabilization.

Iran was not some neutral spiritual defender of the faith. It was a regional power using religion as a mobilizing ideology while building a cross-border militia network.

That distinction matters.

jo6gwb• 5 months ago

Well that's an awfully Islamophobic take. Never has a condition been so aptly named.

This morning's terror attack in Austin was perpetuated by one wearing a "property of Allah" shirt.

The world need not continue to live with and accept Islamic barbarism, and the people of the US will not bend to the sword of the Mullahs or your Shia coworkers.

Cipater11• 5 months ago

People are what they are.

You can take the information I have provided into consideration when you build your internal worldview or you can ignore it.

There is no call to action here. It's just data.

anon2916• 5 months ago

and millions of Orthodox Jews view Israel as defending Judaism. So what? Maybe all the people who are willing to shoot and kill for their holy book should be put into an area and bomb each other to death

Would make a good reality tv show and an excellent warning on the danger of religious fundamentalism.

steve-atx-76004• 5 months ago

Sounds like you should report them to the fbi then

Cipater11• 5 months ago

You seem to have misread my comment.

None of the people I know and have spoken to are capable of or even thinking of violent retaliation.

I am extrapolating from their sentiments that someone out there will be moved to violence.

nailer5• 5 months ago

The fact that millions of muslims worshipped a terrorist is not sufficient justification to submit to terrorism.

izietto• 5 months ago

Hi Iran, enjoy your civil war

sega_sai2• 5 months ago

I have no sympathy for Khamenei, but, if that is allowed we should not be surprised if Denmark prime minister is next?

Alifatisk2• 5 months ago

Of all options, why would Denmarks prime minister be next?

jonathanstrange2• 5 months ago

Refusal to hand over Greenland.

(I'm not saying it's plausible, just want to explain the rationale.)

IsTom• 5 months ago

I don't think killing democratic representatives has as big of an effect as killing authoritarians. You can't have cult of the leader without the leader, but in parliamentary systems you'd have to off quite a few people.

petcat2• 5 months ago

It's an easier decision to make if Denmark's PM decides to spray bullets at 20,000 student protestors.

sudo-umar2• 5 months ago

So its okay in case of bibi?

jordanb• 5 months ago

Weirdly Europe and even Canada seem to be completely onboard with all this..

Hendrikto2• 5 months ago

Having a brutal dictatorial regime that finances international terrorists on your doorstep does that to you.

skywalqer• 5 months ago

Yeah, because killing murderous dictators is helpful, and it doesn't matter that much who does it. In Europe, states aren't sacred – it is the freedom of people, and when people are freed, Europeans are happy even if it includes breaking the sovereignty of some terror state. I'm not saying I like Trump, but when he kills evil dictators, I can't complain. (There was 10k+ protesters killed in Iran recently)

There is huge potential hidden in Iran; it has always had a huge influence over the region and possibly the whole world.

hyperman1• 5 months ago

That's not how I am reading this. Here, the reaction seems mostly that Europe doesn't want to touch this mess. Which is weird, as Iran was clearly on our list of bad countries and Israel can do nothing wrong.

Local news publishes articles of Iranians in our countries being happy, political commenters indicating it can go both ways, and not much comments from politicians.

petcat2• 5 months ago

Also weirdly they only came out in support once they saw that the operation was largely successful. It's almost like they prefer to ride on the coattails the same as they always have.

They don't want to risk their politics.

_3u103• 5 months ago

Agreed. Canada fired the attorney general rather than prosecute those who financed momar ghaddfi. If Trump takes carney to stand trial I support it.

It’s also self admittedly a genocidal state which has failed to bring anyone to justice for the genocide it committed.

The Canadian people need US help in bringing those responsible for genocide and terrorist financing to stand trial for their crimes.

cess112• 5 months ago

Norway, Finland and Spain protested the attack on the basis of international law.

The swedish government was more like 'eh, they had it coming', which does not bode well for us in the long run.

_3u103• 5 months ago

Iran is not a sovereign state, the legitimate powers of government derive from the consent of the governed, without consent it’s not a sovereign state.

The power of sovereignty rests with the people who have given their consent in free and fair elections to have their leaders removed.

inglor_cz5• 5 months ago

Not even Russia really wants Iran to have nuclear weapons and a rocket technology that can hit targets 3000 km+ distant, though they obviously wouldn't attack Iran over that problem. The Middle East is notoriously hard to predict and governments change, while the nuclear capability endures.

Of all the countries that currently make any steps towards nuclear armament, Iran has by far the widest coalition of opponents.

hearsathought2• 5 months ago

Surely they will be sanctioning Israel like they sanctioned russia for attacking ukraine? After all aren't Canada and europe self proclaimed beacons of light?

booleandilemma• 5 months ago

You realize what a bad guy he was, right?

Read the list of human rights violations in Iran here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_Islamic_Re... and tell us something the prime minister of Denmark has done to deserve assassination.

I swear half the people on the internet are crazy. You all would be defending Hitler if he was killed today.

"Just because he was bad doesn't give us the right to kill him". You people should hear yourselves.

sega_sai2• 5 months ago

Do you think that he was killed because of human right violations? I do not think so. The current US administration does not seem very concerned with those.

Cyph0n2• 5 months ago

You realize that international law exists, right? Or are we now OK with devolving into a world where assassinating heads of state and cabinet members is applauded?

KnuthIsGod• 5 months ago

Good way to boost the midterm vote.

Next Greenland and then Canada.

Alifatisk2• 5 months ago

What is happening to this world. There is so many intense events happening in a such short time. I feel like we are truly living in weird times. Trumpet is out here deciding the fate of countries future for his own good. Now, it so happens to be something that benefited the Iranians. But I do not think he did it for the people directly, rather a side effect.

I feel like I've lost the touch of which direction our future is going now, the worlds geopolitics is fluctuation too much. Maybe I should remind myself that feelings also gets amplified by constant stream of news and social media. I am certain 1990s, 2000s and early 2010s was worse times.

shell0x3• 5 months ago

Exactly just because the dictator was horrible doesn’t give the US the right to attack other countries. I see no difference between Russia, Israel, America. They’re all hostile countries which should be sanctioned for human rights violations and violating international law.

olelele• 5 months ago

This.

Hnrobert42• 5 months ago

I've begun to think of Trump as a forest fire. The consequences may be horrible, at least for the status quo, but it does provide an opportunity for new beginnings.

At least, that is the only way I maintain hope.

Ylpertnodi• 5 months ago

A 'new beginning' eould be vance in charge?

Alex_L_Wood2• 5 months ago

It’s so funny reading most comments here, knowing that they’d be celebrating and saying this is good if it was Netanyahu. But when it’s a maniacal islamist declaring his goal to be the destruction of US and Israel, it’s suddenly very nuanced.

wiseowise5• 5 months ago

It's not nuanced at all. Both deserve death row.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm4• 5 months ago

Don't worry, if you say maniac and islamist enough times everyone will understand your view point and change their minds about what it means to blow up middle eastern countries.

pydry4• 5 months ago

Netanyahu committed genocide. The worst crime humanity can commit.

It's not actually very funny how many people go very far out of their way to try and downplay that.

muzani5• 5 months ago

They don't downplay it anymore, they're justifying it.

nailer5• 5 months ago

Netanyahu committed genocide

No he didn’t, you made that up.

elif• 5 months ago

I'm all for upholding international law and holding tyrants to justice.

I am also in favor of the US Constitution's separation of powers.

I would be equally pissed if Netanyahu died at the expense of rule of law.

konart3• 5 months ago

maniacal islamist declaring his goal

maniacal 'whatever you call him' actually committed to methodically wipe out his neighbor

esalman3• 5 months ago

The first one is crippled by US sanctions, second one propped up by US taxpayers.

dralley• 5 months ago

An almost bigger irony is that most of those complaining would almost certainly have lamented in the past about leaders sending their nations poor to fight instead of going after each other directly. But now "that's illegal" (not just the war, but specifically the decapitation strikes)

jimmydoe2• 5 months ago

If you do care the number of people will die bc of the sudden death of their leadership, then the reaction makes sense. Israel society will still function if its far right leadership was taken out suddenly, Iran society will collapse and become unpredictable and miserable if rev guard were suddenly removed without quick replacement or resolution.

righthand7• 5 months ago

They’re still bombing Tehran right now.[0] It’s not over. What is there to celebrate? I hope Netanyahu and Trump both die today but I’d prefer they were prosecuted not blown up with missiles. Do you think I should celebrate their deaths when the day comes? They’re both maniacal men who have beliefs and have gotten people killed for no reason.

[0] “U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran continue into 2nd day, as the region faces turmoil” https://www.npr.org/2026/03/01/nx-s1-5731365/us-israeli-stri...

agb123• 5 months ago

No one liked the ayatollah, but if you think the president can go to war without congressional approval then you are unamerican. On top of that, the younger generation of the IRGC is more extreme than the current one, and there has never been a successful regime change by only using an air campaign. Dummies might point to Kosovo or Libya, but the opposition in those cases were armed. In Iran, the opposition is about to get slaughtered and oppressed further, unless we get boots on the ground.

nielsbot• 5 months ago

I saw some news that the US and Israel have been killing existing leftist opposition india’s Iran because they want to install the Shah’s son.

hnuser847• 5 months ago

if you think the president can go to war without congressional approval then you are unamerican

The last time congress declared war was 1942. That ship long ago my friend.

xenospn• 5 months ago

This reminds me of a quote I heard earlier this week - “if they’re brown, it’s culture. If they’re white, it’s genocide”

troad• 5 months ago

It's funny how being partisan makes one "know" all these unknowable, evidence-free hypotheticals about the other side.

Must be nice, to replace the difficult art of getting things done in politics with merely spectating at a soccer match. Team Green or Team Blue? Get your bumper stickers and profile emojis.

sosomoxie6• 5 months ago

Obviously, given that Netanyahu is the face of the entity at the root cause of all of these problems.

Alex_L_Wood2• 5 months ago

Oh, please enlighten us what is the entity, don’t be a coward!

pythonic_hell• 5 months ago

I’m struggling to understand how this will be different from Libya.

righthand7• 5 months ago

Not worth killing more people. Very sad stupid day. Just because a “bad guy” died doesn’t mean we did a good thing.

moi2388• 5 months ago

These comments are insane to me. Have any of you ever spoken with Iranians? Lived with them? Trust me, they were wishing for Khamenei to be removed for decades.

rKarpinski• 5 months ago

When the Arch Duke was Franz Ferdinand was assassinated would the comments have just been about policy position in the Balkans?

There are now 3 active hot conflicts in Eurasia involving different Nuclear armed powers. This is a scary and unstable time.

SegfaultSeagull2• 5 months ago

The fall of the Iranian regime would be a strategic turning point not just for the Middle East, but globally.

For more than four decades, the Islamic Republic has been one of the primary state sponsors of terror. Hezbollah is not an organic Lebanese movement — it is an Iranian creation. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are sustained by Iranian money and weapons. The Houthis’ missile and drone capabilities exist because Tehran supplied and trained them. Shi’a militias in Iraq killed hundreds of Americans with Iranian-provided EFPs. Today, Iranian Shahed drones are striking Ukrainian apartment buildings.

This is not passive instability. It is deliberate, systematic export of violence as state policy.

At the same time, the regime has consistently pursued a nuclear capability while publicly calling for the destruction of Israel and “death to America.” Even if one assumes deterrence logic would hold, a nuclear umbrella for Iran would dramatically increase its freedom to escalate proxy warfare across the region.

The downstream geopolitical effects are not hypothetical. Without Iranian drone and missile transfers, Russia’s ability to sustain certain strike campaigns in Ukraine would be materially degraded. Without heavily discounted Iranian oil shipments, China’s energy calculus shifts, particularly under sanctions pressure. Without Tehran’s funding pipelines, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis become far more constrained actors rather than semi-state militaries.

There is also precedent for preventive action against nuclear programs. Israel’s 1981 strike on Iraq’s Osirak reactor (Operation Opera) was widely condemned at the time; decades later, most analysts agree it delayed Saddam Hussein’s nuclear ambitions. Likewise, Israel’s 2007 strike on Syria’s Al-Kibar reactor (Operation Orchard) prevented the Assad regime from developing a covert nuclear capability. Both operations were controversial in the moment and regarded as stabilizing in retrospect.

Preventing a hostile regime from acquiring nuclear capability has historically proven wiser than managing it after the fact.

Yes, regime change carries risk. So does allowing the world’s most aggressive revolutionary theocracy to entrench itself indefinitely while arming proxies from Beirut to Sana’a to Moscow. The status quo is not stable. It is violent by design.

If a regime that funds terrorism on three continents, arms Russia during a European war, and openly seeks nuclear weapons is dismantled, history is unlikely to judge that harshly.

It will likely judge it as overdue.

sosomoxie6• 5 months ago

Israel's enemies aren't "terror", they're legitimate resistance to an actual terrorist entity. Israel and the US are the terrorists, not the people defending against them. This latest round of unprovoked attacks only opens the world's eyes even more to this reality.

yanko• 5 months ago

Two aircraft carriers just to kill an 86 years old man in a democratic way 10000 km home away as proof of the empire sunset

hu34• 5 months ago

That's one way to put it.

Another view can be: ending a 36 years long autoritarian, human rights infriging, regime with very few casualities.

rozap• 5 months ago

It was never about human rights. Bibi gets to do genocide and we supply the weapons to make it happen.

khamenei being a piece of shit is pure coincidence. If he was a nice guy he'd be equally dead right now.

This feels very much like a "mission accomplished" moment. Nobody knows what the future holds. Highly likely it gets worse.

eudamoniac• 5 months ago

Huh... It turns out you can just kill your enemies. You don't have to spend a decade trying to negotiate and placate them.

somenameforme5• 5 months ago

And for anybody that didn't see this coming somehow, a planned four day operation has now turned into a 4 weeks long one. [1] Want to guess what happens in 4 weeks?

[1] https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/trump-military-...

sudo-umar2• 5 months ago

A r*pist and a war criminal decided to give justice to the people of Iran and so many people here are approving their actions.. some geniuses here

Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is killed in Israeli strike, ending 36-year rule

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