Not trying to assign blame, I did say both Israel's attack and Iran's response were at fault. My point is for those people who think that because face was saved, theatrical points were made etc., we have returned to the status quo... I am not...
I think it is wishful thinking to assume that Iran's "theatre" has simply reset everything to the status quo, I think the Israel embassy attack and Iran's escalation has been potentially destabilising.
- Iran has demonstrated the means and the...
Iran's response was also escalatory. It was not purely retaliatory.
120 of those "300 subsonic drones" were ballistic missiles.
Israel can respond in ways that are non-escalatory - they had an ex head of Mossad on the TV the other day implying...
Yep.
Are people here seriously claiming that Iran's plan relied on their adversary shooting down all their missiles? What kind of a stupid and reckless plan is that?
Nobody can really be sure about the strength of a complex multilayer air defence system like that with so many technical, operational and political moving parts, until it is tested. 99% is an amazing result. I bet even the Israelis were...
Iran would not have known that Israel would be able to shoot down 99% of them or been sure that Israel's Arab neighbours would help. If they had "only" shot down 90% of them, that's 30 missiles hitting their targets and we would not be talking...
Both sides crossed a threshold but Iran did something more - it signalled that it was prepared to escalate. If it was simply a PR exercise, it would have responded with a lesser show of force.
Legal conventions aside, Israel bombed it because it was, to them, a legitimate military target. They decided the political risk was worth it. Whether that turns out to be true or not, we will see.