@KipPotapych Sorry but this is a combination of historical revisionism and cliches.
JCPOA was de facto a temporary agreement. It had a deadline. Within 15 years there would be no restrictions, with some being lifted years earlier.
Effectively the intent was to ban Iranian enrichment and some other activities for up to 15 years, but give it sanctions relief through which it would build up an arsenal, a deterrent (Hezbollah was supposed to deter a strike but it made a strategic error), and build significant infrastructure including more UGFs and stockpile components for massively increasing the program.
By 2025 it would not be close to a nuclear weapon, but it would so much more powerful ballistic missile arsenal and much empowered Hezbollah, that if October 7th hadn't driven Israel to retaliate and Hezbollah hadn't mistakenly locked itself in a conflict with Israel, it's very much possible Israel would remain deterred from conducting a strike.
You think from the perspective of someone living in the sheltered Europe or US. But JCPOA was never about the full picture. It ignores, as you ignore, the conventional aspect to which it is tied. Iran's array of proxies and its own arsenal. Easy to ignore in hindsight when it was all dismantled already.
This same decision to ignore Iran's conventional capabilities causes your ignorance to the Iranian threat to Europe.
Iran has been developing Europe and US-range missiles for years. They are of no use against Israel.
Over 10,000 of its drones rained down on Europe already.
And it operates significant networks of operatives across Europe. It's been known for years for example that the UK is the regional hub for Iranian activity.
And guess what? Just yesterday they disabled 2 tanker aircraft in RAF Brize Norton.
Why specifically tanker aircraft, an aircraft type that coincidentally is so relevant to air operations in Iran?
They were then set to be branded as terrorist organizations, but the writing was on the wall, as this is actually not the first time they cause millions in damage to a British military facility.
You also dismissed Merz as a buffoon.
Is he really though? It's no coincidence that Iran's missiles can now reach Germany, but as of 2025 Germany does not posses a BMD system to intercept them.
They will soon, Arrow 3 provided by Israel, same one knocking down MRBMs right now. But there are leaks, and Merz knows there's no such thing as actually defending from a nuke without preventing that nuke's construction.
I do not subscribe to the idea of defeatism. I believe problems have a solution, and solutions work.
After defeating Hamas and Hezbollah, and a week into a war with Iran:
- No WW3.
- No massive regional war.
- Strait of Hormuz is open.
- Israel largely unscathed.
- No ground invasion into Iran.
Now, I've heard plenty of people doom-mongering on Iran for years. I've always responded with reason. But it never seems to stop. Even in the middle of a war that's the antithesis of that.
Another person apparently made the same case more eloquently and it resonated with more people.
I see absolutely nothing bad with eliminating a nuke program before it produces one. Nor anything bad about eliminating a regime whose motto was "death to America/Israel/Britain".
