Agreed, but what if not stopping the IRGC ends up causing orders-of-magnitude more suffering and deaths? (Tho, is Trump actually unleashing the IRGC because Mojtaba gives them free-er reign than Ali; and causing some Iranians to actually side with their own psychotic countrymen against the attacking foreigners? If yes, then US voters may be more harmful than Iran.)

Would Hamas not be vastly worse than Israel if they had the same military power as Israel?

ISIS?

Shouldn't intent count to prevent access to biological and nuclear weapons?

[–] Krono@lemmy.today 1 points 14 hours ago

what if not stopping the IRGC ends up causing orders-of-magnitude more suffering and deaths?

This is the logic of preemptive war, and it is blatantly illegal under the UN charter. This type of logic is very dangerous because it can justify any war without evidence.

Would Hamas not be vastly worse than Israel if they had the same military power as Israel? ISIS?

How could they possibly be worse than Israel, who is invading it's neighbors, starting wars for territory, doing ethnic cleansing, and threatening to drop nukes?

I agree that I do not want to see a Hamas government, and an ISIS government would be horrific, but history shows these type of groups form as a direct result of imperial violence.

Israel funded Hamas and killed it's more moderate competitors. Hamas' early leaders like Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi were scholars and academics, serious people interested in peace. Israel killed them and their families, and their successors, over and over until you end up with a violent, uneducated leader like Yahya Sinwar.

The US acted similarly when we meddled in the Syrian civil war, giving weapons and money to ISIS.

Shouldn't intent count to prevent access to biological and nuclear weapons?

I don't know how this would work at all. How do you measure intent? Does the US have good intent with its nuclear arsenal? Russia? Pakistan?

I think your question has 2 logical conclusions:

There is no possible 'good intent' for nuclear weapons, they are horrible devices made to kill millions of people.
The intent of nuclear programs is not offensive, but defensive. Recent history shows that nuclear powers live in relative peace, whereas non-nuclear powers get invaded and bullied. Look at what happened to Ukraine after they gave up their nukes.