44 years later and here we are. About damn time that Tehran regime is taken out. Not by nukes or all out shooting war but to topple their mullah gov't. I'm pretty sure there is a specific alphabet agency that specializes in that type of stuff. Another option is to launch a simultaneous conventional Tomahawk strategic strike of 2200 missiles on their military sites & communications. This can be done by our attack subs & a few destroyers. Granted that's probably not a good idea as who knows how China/Russia would respond. So weird on how prior to 2021, Iran and all its proxies would never even attempt to do any such maritime warfare.
Also, if anyone out there is under the illusion that last nights strikes will hobble the Houthi - unless it is the opening of a larger campaign - then I would suggest Houthi-Saudi Arabian conflict that has been ongoing since 2015.
I think it was day 2 of the Israel/Gaza war that Netanyahu told Joe Biden in a phone call that any ceasefire/backing down is sign of weakness that ME countries and their proxy armies will take advantage of. You need to hit them hard enough where it affects their ideology for generations to come.
China is providing materiel and support to Iran and the Houthis, while using these combat actions to gather valuable intelligence on how the US and our allies respond to various types of attacks. It's a live fire training scenario with US/European ships and mariners as the targets. I think the Chicoms have over time positioned itself in that region as the lesser of two evils for their Belt & Road project (which extends into South America) and thus has a margin of error (and direct benefit) when tacitly or directly supporting proxies in attacks on Western assets. I don't think any Chinese nor Russian flagged ships have been attacked.
As to potential Hezbollah (or any Shia/Sunni faction) attacks inside the US; well we do have open borders. They're probably already here waiting for a Go signal. Can't help but think of the TV series Jericho (2006-08). Except won't be with suitcase nukes, but mass chaos & infrastructure sabotage in our big cities. That would certainly disrupt the comfy status quo of many. Welcome to reality, sheeple.
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." – Thomas Sowell