Iran tells US it’s not seeking war but ‘unilateral restraint’ is over
www.aljazeera.com
At least nine killed in Israeli air attack on central Beirut, as fights in southern Lebanon intensify.

This is merely a bullet point on the main article, but seems more-significant to me than the article’s main title, and has now been cited on a number of other news sites:

Iranian source tells Al Jazeera Iran sent a message to the US via Qatar saying that it does not seek regional war but adding that “the phase of unilateral self-restraint has ended”. It also warned any Israeli attack would be met with an “unconventional response” that includes targeting Israeli infrastructure.

  • oakey66@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5912·
    3 months ago

    Israel and the U.S. and Israel have been pushing for conflict with Iran for almost a decade and while I’m no fan of the Iranian regime, they have shown extreme restraint considering the saber rattling the west and Israel have done. The militia groups are a direct result of U.S. Israeli aggression toward Palestinians, Lebanese, and Iran directly.

    Edit: Minor to opening sentence.

    • Jumi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      3 months ago

      What can they really do after all, Israel hast the biggest military behind it

  • Warl0k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    316·
    3 months ago

    It’s hard to admit, but I find myself really hoping their read on the situation is right and that the US won’t absolutely steamroller them get involved in this on Israel’s behalf. Fuck, I just want to not be involved in a mideast war at some point during my life. Stability isn’t worth much when its foundation is laid on the bones of children.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      333·
      3 months ago

      In point of fact, an intervention in support of Israel would be destabilizing. Israel is warmongering like a motherfucker right now. They were before, too, but they especially are now.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      104·
      3 months ago

      Instability is founded on the bones of children as well. There’s no ‘clean hands’ option.

      The issue is that backing Israel at this point is a contribution to instability.

      • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        131·
        3 months ago

        Netanyahu desperately wants to drag the US into a war on Israel’s behalf. It would shore up his crumbling position at home and complete reframe the narrative in the West away from the genocide in Gaza, recasting Isreal as an embattled ally once more.

  • ryathal@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    4428·
    3 months ago

    That’s a weird statement for a country that’s been actively supporting multiple militias in the region for decades.

    • smooth_tea@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5518·
      3 months ago

      In what world would a country in a similar situation not support groups that try to counter an invading force? What about the assassinations inside Iran? The terrorist attacks orchestrated by the west? The sabotage of their nuclear facilities? How is it that those things can go on for decades, and then when Iran finally reacts, people go “oh look what these maniacs did, how dare they!”

      Do you not care that Iran was on the receiving end of these things, or were you simply not aware?

      Iran has been notoriously docile because it knows the US had been looking for an excuse to attack it. Just like Wesley Clarke stated.

      • ryathal@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1928·
        3 months ago

        Calling it unilateral restraint is absurd though. It’s like bragging about cutting out Coke from your diet while drinking a Pepsi.

        • smooth_tea@lemmy.worldEnglish
          366·
          3 months ago

          I don’t know if it is that off-base to be honest, restraint does not mean that they practiced pacifism, just that the response was disproportionately small.

    • Diplomjodler@lemmy.worldEnglish
      183·
      3 months ago

      Just the kind of thing psychopathic old men that think they’re chosen by god would say.

    • FarceOfWill@infosec.pubEnglish
      53·
      3 months ago

      An unconventional response? Like, giving a load of idiots by the world’s most used shipping lane weapons to blow up shipping whenever they want?

      Absolutely they’ve been doing this for ages. Fuck them and fuck netanyahu

    • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      918·
      3 months ago

      Yeah are they talking about themselves? Someone else? No one in the region is restraining themselves whatsoever.

      • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.socialEnglish
        154·
        3 months ago

        I believe it. They’re primarily using missiles that take a predictable, ballistic arc, which makes them very easy for the Iron dome system to intercept. Furthermore, Iran’s responses so far have seemed very carefully measured so that only a few missiles get through the iron dome. Based on previous strikes, it seems like they could overwhelm Israel just through sheer numbers, yet they haven’t.

        Fuck, theres so much bullshit going on that, quite frankly, I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, etc were working with Israel to maintain power. They fire a handful of easily-intercepted rockets at Israel, Israel kills a bunch of Palestinians, the leaders get to stay in power while their citizens are too distracted by hate to look up and realize they’re being pissed on. I think that’s also why everyone outside of Israel is freaking out. They thought they had a deal, but Bibi tore it up because he was at risk of losing power.

        Israel is completely outnumbered by a significant margin. If the countries around them got sick and tired enough of Israel, they could gang up and possibly have a real chance of winning; yet for all the hate they have for Israel, they don’t. Why?

          • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.socialEnglish
            14·
            3 months ago

            I’m not entirely sure I buy that. Israel is a tiny country, and Iran was able to get weapons through the combined AA systems of the US, Jordan, France, Britain and Israel. Granted, that was a much larger strike than usual, but it showed that they may have the ability to do it again, and possibly in a larger quantity.

            Think about it this way though. Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, they all have stated goal to kill all the Jews (I shouldn’t have to say this, but that’s disgusting and I do not support it). They could probably just fuck with the tail fins on their missiles or put the guidance systems on a bungie cord to make them fly erratically, which would likely help them get through the anti-missile systems; international law against indiscriminate weapons be damned. They’ve already shown that they don’t give a shit about the geneva convention, so what’s stopping them from firing drunken missiles at Israel?

            Edit: I forgot to say, any military has a delay before it can project it’s full power in response to a conflict. If Israel is attacked faster than they can react, then they’d be fucked. That’s why I don’t think the US is as big a deal as you might think. The US would probably have to move more troops to support Israel and pray the troops currently stationed there would be enough to hold everyone off.

            • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              9·
              3 months ago

              I think you’re seriously underestimating the strength, size and funding of the Israeli military, combined with the significant presence the US has in the area. They’re likely to be quite capable of holding off a full scale assault by an Iranian lead coalition until more forces can be deployed.

              Isreal is a very paranoid, highly militarized state. There is no attack that will be “faster than they can react.” They’re basically on a war footing all the time, and especially now with the recent ratcheting up of tensions.

              Iran has very few strategic or tactical advantages in this situation.

        • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          3 months ago

          I believe it. They’re primarily using missiles that take a predictable, ballistic arc, which makes them very easy for the Iron dome system to intercept. Furthermore, Iran’s responses so far have seemed very carefully measured so that only a few missiles get through the iron dome. Based on previous strikes, it seems like they could overwhelm Israel just through sheer numbers, yet they haven’t.

          Here’s a decent article on this:

          https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/01/stopping-iran-attack-would-have-forced-israel-to-use-sophisticated-and-expensive-defences

          • Saleh@feddit.orgEnglish
            41·
            3 months ago

            Their sheer speed makes ballistic weapons challenging to intercept, but the initial reports of no fatalities within Israel and one in the West Bank would suggest despite the numbers of missiles launched it was a military failure

            This part irks me quite a bit. Like in the retaliation against the US after the assassination of an Iranian general invited to a diplomatic talk, Iran seems to avoid causing casualties to show strength, w.o. pushing for escalation. This is quite opposite to Israel who makes a point of indiscriminately slaughtering thousands of civilians in their actions, since their goal is to escalate into a great war in West Asia, where the US has to do their dirty work.

            • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.worldEnglish
              4·
              3 months ago

              Israel has the US in its pocket, meanwhile there are plenty of hawks in the US who would love to go after Iran so there’s a huge imbalance. Iranian military responses are carefully choreographed to show defiance and stop short of escalation whilst Israel is running around doing whatever the hell it wants and ignoring the US.