KHAMENEI"S DILEMMA: The NYT, in an interesting expose, detailed how Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei convened Iran's Supreme National Security Council yesterday to discuss a response. According to the report, Khamenei said he wanted revenge, but did not want to act rashly.
During the meeting, there were differences of opinion on how to respond and whether to prepare for a prolonged war, given the severe damage to Iran's air defense system and missile capabilities, and the fear that the United States would also be drawn into the war. One participant warned that if Israel were to attack Iran's energy and water facilities, it could spark widespread internal protests.
During the meeting, Khamenei appeared to be facing an existential question: if he attacks and the war expand, there will be a real danger to the continuation of his rule, and if he shows restraint, this could be interpreted both at home and abroad as a defeat.
At the end of the meeting, Khamenei ordered that the first part of the response would include launching a 1000 ballistic missiles to overload Israel's air defenses and cause maximum damage, but due to Israel's attacks on the missile facilities, Iran was only able to launch about a 100 missiles.
Forever wars was actually a goal-we have documents to prove this. Regime change operations and sustained occupations were intended to last indefinitely.
i dont give a fuck because it never ended up happening. It's crying about hypotheticals
Israel has a zero sum defense posture. Given its size there can be no defeats, as even a tactical defeat on the battlefield that would be a minor setback for a country the size of the USA or Russia would be game over for them. This makes the country incredibly paranoid and incredibly aggressive beyond what would be normal for most countries that are better situated geographically.
Adding to this, the Begin doctrine requires Israel to act. No enemy of Israel which has stated the intention to wipe out Israel should be allowed to have nuclear weapons.