this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
17 points (75.8% liked)

Explain Like I'm Five

20431 readers
32 users here now

Simplifying Complexity, One Answer at a Time!

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Case In point I own 10 acres of land in the USA and find the world biggest oil reserve or the world biggest Uranium reserve and I really really hate Britain for whatever reason you can pick. Does that give the UK to enter and bomb my 10 acres back to the stone age?

top 32 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well we had a deal with Iran to prevent them from constructing nukes, but then infamous felon rapist Donald Trump tore that deal up because a black man forged it.

So now we live in a much more dangerous world because a felon rapist couldn't handle someone else having accomplishments.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

infamous felon rapist Donald Trump tore that deal up

by design, to get an excuse to bomb Iran.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

Israel has been claiming Iran has imminent nuclear arms capability since 2012.

It's just another version of Iraq WMDs.

[–] eightpix@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oh boy. Ill make this as short as I can because I really ought to be off to bed.

Nuclear weapons, since the beginning, foment distrust. Neocolonialism, the Red Scare, and Fuckiteering breeds enemies and blowback. And, Iran, having oil and a spotty history relating to the superpower/hegemon that is America, has denied and actively worked against the "Manifest Destiny" of American supremacy in the world and — regionally — Israeli supremacy in Palestine.

Since 1945, the United States has:

  • developed nuclear weapons

  • used nuclear weapons at war

  • tested nuclear weapons at "peace"

  • conducted a Cold War against "non-aligned" states — including Iran for a time — and communists and people who America regards as "other"

  • supported Israel as an independent state despite the questionable (read: ethnic cleansing) methods employed to declare the state

  • overthrown Iran's democratically elected government and installed a Shah, "friendly" to US interests and brutal to Iranian people

  • developed the Hydrogen bomb

  • overthrown several other democratically elected governments, prosecuted wars and police actions across 4 continents...

And that barely gets us to the mid 1950s.

By 1979, Iran got fed up. JFK's words, "those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable" apply here. There was a revolution, they booted the Shah and took some Americans hostage for 444 days. Somehow, an Islamist faction rose from the confusion and seized power. Marjane Sartapi's graphic novel, Persepolis, helped me with this part.

In the cocaine-addled '80s, the States said, "fuckit," and started paying Saddam Hussein to go to war with Iran. Iran held the line for 8 years. After that, Hussein became the enemy instead of a friend, Iran sat back and watched the States undertake Gulf Wars I and II under the Bush family's rule. Meanwhile, the Israeli people have lived in fear of Iran's support for Hezbollah and Palestinians. Harsh words, and a few thousand rocket attacks, against the State of Israel and America's support by AIPAC are part of the puzzle. And of course, Aljazeera conuterspinning the American narrative from its HQ in Qatar is also a threat.

In the end, Iran DID develop the capacity yo make nuclear energy which they claim is for electricity. US doesn't trust anyone they don't control, and haven't since they achieved schoolyard bully status back in '45. Israel also has, but refuses to talk about, its nuclear weapons, which are a threat to all of the countries Israel has attacked (some of whom attacked Israel in the '50s abd '60s). Again, a paucity of trust.

Since about Y2K, Iran's leadership has declared a Fatwa against nuclear weapons and swears they will never possess them.

There have been at least two Palestinian uprisings against Israel (2000-2005 and the Al-Aqsa Flood of 2023). There was a period of secular society-led protest that is often overlooked. Hamas changed the charter. All actions have been met with tacit or overt Iranian support for Palestinian resistance. That said, the heavy-handed actions of this Israeli government, and several governments back to 2000, have only made the prospect of peace in the region more distant from reality. Certainly, decimating the population of Gaza in 2 years under the Dahiya doctrine fits the phrase "the cruelty is the point."

So, amid negotiations to not go to war, the children in the room decided to sneak attack and assassinate the Supreme Leader of Iran. This undermines resistance the Iranian people themselves were mounting against their government. It undermines International law and U.S. own laws about Presidency. It destabilizes the region and will impact the global economy.

Anyway. This took an hour and Im going to bed.

[–] Patnou@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Hope you had a good night sleep...no sarcasm in this..But that is the best thing I will probably read from to til next week.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 32 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Iran has consistently professed a goal of eradicating israel. Nuclear weapons are the method.

If you loudly declared that you wanted to genocide the British, and started developing nuclear weapons, it wouldn’t be too long before you were prevented from doing so.

[–] ilickfrogs@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Then why tear up a deal that would've kept them from acquiring nukes?

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

So he would have an excuse to bomb them.

Same bullshit GW used in Iraq, with the support of all the US media.

It's in Epstein emails, the plan to bomb Iran is 9 years old.

[–] liuther9@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

To attack and not get nuked

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

I dunno, but I'm guessing it's the same logic that lead to him declaring that the deal (CUSMA) he negotiated during his first term was the worst deal in history.

[–] papertowels@mander.xyz 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Because the dude is a dumbass who tore up agreements he made, idk if you'll see much opposition to that here.

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

So you have a pretext to start a war with them.

[–] DaMummy@hilariouschaos.com 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

No, it's Israel that's attacking 7 countries, has nukes, has comitted a genocide against a semite population, while Iran has no interest is having a nuclear bomb, simply because that's what their religion believes, and what the Ayatollah always said. The only thing that can convince them to get a nuke, it's so Israel and US stops bombing them.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk -5 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Iran had a full nuclear weapons development programme from the 1980s. The US, Russia and China have all stated they have evidence that Iran is still pursuing a bomb, and the IAEA has recently found Iran in breach of NPT guardrails.

[–] IronBird@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

lol, 2 weeks away from nukes foe 50+ years.

[–] DaMummy@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 2 days ago

Were they hidden in the girl school? Did they have a birthday party with yellow cake? Were the pencil sharpeners made with aluminum tubes?

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago

US, Russia and China have all stated

Very trustworthy nations.

Didn't the US invade a country based on a lie that they had weapons of mass destruction?

[–] Ashtear@piefed.social 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Aside from those in the nuclear club not wanting to share power, nuclear proliferation causes a lot of problems. It creates more flashpoints for escalating into a world-ending nuclear exchange or for non-state actors to obtain devices for terrorism, etc. The world stood at the brink for a while and decided decades ago the ultimate goal is to reduce the number of nuclear arms.

On the flip side, this is why the recent-ish invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Venezuela, the intervention in Libya, and China's saber-rattling against Taiwan--among others--are serious matters. It teaches regimes around the world you will only be safe if you have a nuclear deterrent. North Korea applied that lesson, and they won't be the last at this rate.

[–] derAbsender@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

And that's why we know Iran has no nukes

[–] imeansurewhynot@sh.itjust.works 14 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The more countries with a nuclear deterrent, the less advantage countries who already wield nuclear power have.

Iran also explicitly regards the US as its primary enemy(regime change says what) and has been historically unwilling to kowtow to US demands, which really upsets imperialists.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The more countries with a nuclear deterrent,

…. The more likely someone is to use them.

While the current nuclear powers haven’t always behaved well, the last thing we need is higher likelihood of someone using nuclear weapons. I do t co do e the attack nor believe the stated justification but I agree that it would be bad for more countries to be able to use nuclear weapons

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

…. The more likely someone is to use them.

There is only one country on this planet with nukes that has used them, on civilian targets, twice.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

“mutually Assured Destruction” may not yet have destroyed humanity but it’s insane to think it’s desirable.

[–] IronBird@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

the only time nukes have been used is when 1 side had them, it would seem the more forces that have them the less likely they are to be used

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

That is really naive

[–] ruuster13@lemmy.zip -2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The Iranian government identifies Israel as its number 1 enemy. The USA is second and it's because the USA has historically protected Israel. Antisemitism is an ancient drug.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I was with you until the last statement; it’s not antisemitism; pretty much everyone in the mid east is “Semitic”. It’s being against a nation who lives on land that they believe is rightfully theirs, persecuting and outright genociding people of a shared sect of their religion.

They don’t want to nuke Israel, because they want the land; they don’t want to kill all Jews (other than the far right agitators that seem to pop up everywhere), they want to destroy the nation of Israel.

This makes things a bit messy because if Israel ceased to be a country and Palestine took over tomorrow, Iran would rejoice, but then they’d likely try expanding into surrounding countries, and at least some would want to absorb Palestine into Iran.

They’d also have to come to grips with the US, who has been the great satan for two generations now. Iran has defined itself in relation to the US in the meantime.

Meanwhile, most people living in Iran identify themselves as Persian, and don’t consider this their fight. And the Persian diaspora is pretty large.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

White European colonists are not semitic.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Iranians/Persians are white European colonists?

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 1 day ago