Originally Posted by Turbosina

Before the "excursion": The SoH was open to all traffic.
Today: closed to all traffic.

Before: Oil stable at around $60.
Today: Oil has increased by 50 pct and will likely go higher when markets reopen.

Before: Jet fuel prices stable.
Today: Jet fuel up by an average of 80 pct. (My usual cheap Jet A stop was $3.30/ gal, today they are at $6.35.)

Before: Elderly, ailing imam in charge of the regime, with significant popular discontent posing a real challenge to the regime's continued existence.
Today: More radical, much younger, and likely much angrier imam supposedly in charge. (In reality it's likely competing factions within the IRGC are duking it out for control, which is likely a worse situation than before.) Moreover, we've almost certainly turned public opinion even harder against us, deflecting their hatred for the regime onto the people who have been bombing them.

Before: Russia's oil revenues were $9.7 billion/ month.
Today: Russian oil revenues have doubled to $20 bn/ month.

Before: Iran had enriched uranium buried deep underground.
Today: Iran has enriched uranium buried deep underground.

Before: Iran had a large conventional military capability and a significant asymmetrical warfare capability.
Today: Iran's conventional military has been largely destroyed, but its asymmetric warfare capabilities remain powerful enough to allow them to close one of the world's most critical shipping lanes.

These are the facts. (Aside from my opinion on the stability of the regime, which is just my opinion.) Everything else are verifiable, hard facts.

If this looks like winning to you... Well then you have a different grasp on reality than I do.

Originally Posted by hoover

I swear I just heard the same language from a talking head in CNN.

Originally Posted by MaxQ

You SHOULD hear essentially the same language from the 'talking heads on any of the cable news programs, as these are some of the bare bones facts.
Unfortunately, you won't hear them from many sources, as what factual information can be aired and still keep viewership and support of The Party depends on what reality is acceptable.

Originally Posted by hoover

I swear I just heard the same language from a talking head in CNN.

Originally Posted by Excargodog

Eventually if you study the society - live in it for awhile - you understand what the problem is. It’s Islam.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not holier than now. The Spanish Inquisition kept at it for 350 years and really stopped only in the 1830s. And Christianity had a 650 year head start on civilizing itself and purging savagery from its ranks. There are 2.2 billion Christians on this globe. About 2 million followers of Islam. The “true believers” of the Spanish Inquisition would consider about 2 billion of those Christians to be infidels - fallen from the True Faith. The “true believers” (fundamentalists) of Islam consider about 75-80% (their own moderates) to be more or less heretical or at least lapsed from the true faith.

It’s taken Christianity 2000 years from its founding to smooth out some of the rough edges and even now that process is incomplete. It shouldn’t surprise us that it’ll take as much time for Islam

Originally Posted by ShyGuy

Great example of when someone shows you who they are, believe them.

Originally Posted by METO Guido

We do believe ‘them.’ But we don’t care who they think they are or wtf they say they believe in. We also recognize they just happen to be standing directly in the path of critical world trade So if they don’t get back in line, rather soonish, we may ultimately be forced to really bomb the living crap out of them this time around. Teamed up with only Israel of course. Tragic. Nonetheless Imperative.

Originally Posted by MaxQ

The strait was open until we started assasinating their leaders and bombing them.
They opened it for the truce, then found out that they were subject to a blockade and any shipping associated with them subject to attack or capture worldwide, and Israel could bomb Lebanon.
IOW, not really a cease fire.
So they closed it.

Want the strait open again? Go back to the way things were before Feb 28th.
Oh, that's right. The people, such as yourself, that want the strait open killed the Iranians that you need to negotiate with.

The strait is Iran's Trump card. They would not be playing it if they hadn't been backed into a corner.
This is the type of stuff that happens when those with power act without thought, consideration, or imagination.

Ah yes. Once again lions led by donkeys.

Originally Posted by METO Guido

We do believe ‘them.’ But we don’t care who they think they are or wtf they say they believe in. We also recognize they just happen to be standing directly in the path of critical world trade So if they don’t get back in line, rather soonish, we may ultimately be forced to really bomb the living crap out of them this time around. Teamed up with only Israel of course. Tragic. Nonetheless Imperative.

Originally Posted by MaxQ

The strait was open until we started assasinating their leaders and bombing them.
They opened it for the truce, then found out that they were subject to a blockade and any shipping associated with them subject to attack or capture worldwide, and Israel could bomb Lebanon.
IOW, not really a cease fire.
So they closed it.

Want the strait open again? Go back to the way things were before Feb 28th.
Oh, that's right. The people, such as yourself, that want the strait open killed the Iranians that you need to negotiate with.

The strait is Iran's Trump card. They would not be playing it if they hadn't been backed into a corner.
This is the type of stuff that happens when those with power act without thought, consideration, or imagination.

Ah yes. Once again lions led by donkeys.