Iran Attacking israel - Wow

[james.hendrickson]

Hi Guys,

This has absolutely nothing to do with money - but are you seeing the headlines - Iran has launched a sustained attack on Israel using drones and ballistic missiles.

From the Daily Mail - Israel Puts Military on Alert

AP - Iran Fires Drones and Missiles at Israel in Revenge Attack

CNBC - Airspace Closed All Over The Mideast

Plenty of commentary all over Twitter. Lots of blame for Biden and Netanyahu.

[kork13]

I'm less concerned by Biden's less-than-stellar negotiation & peacemaker abilities ... many other nations have been trying unsuccessfully to do the same. But Netanyahu is driving his little nation to misery, and isolating himself from the global powers that might otherwise have provided more support & security.. Poorly-discriminated attacks throughout Gaza, striking civilians & internationally-recognized protected sites/groups has (rightfully) turned most of the world against helping them.

The fact that Iran chose now as the time to attack Israel is no coincidence -- it's opportunism. Global support to Israel is at an all-time low, and Iran may view Israel as too distracted or overextended to make a noteworthy response to Iran's attacks. It's also a huge propaganda moment for Iran, because they can tout these attacks as striking directly against "the zionists" (by their parlance), even if the attacks are ineffective. ETA: Note that it's not purely Iranian aggression bringing this about ... Israel (though disclaiming responsibility) recently struck a senior Iranian Quds Force commander at an Iranian embassy compound in Syria. So Israel's choices aren't making the situation any better...

But all of this is extremely dangerous, because if Israel responds more forcefully than Iran expects, it's a very slippery slope to blowing up the entire region into conflict. That's why US forces are doing everything they can to intercept the drones & missiles before they reach Israel. At this point, we're basically just serving as a pressure relief valve -- if we can minimize damage & impact to Israel, maybe we can prevent this from boiling over & going from a tragedy to an outright disaster.

[ua_guy]

It will affect markets from a money standpoint.

Sigh. And this is one of the many reasons I want absolutely nothing to do with religion.

[james.hendrickson]

Heard from some colleagues in Israel - evidently the country escaped the worst of of, and they're all hoping it won't escalate.

Fingers crossed it blows over.

[bjl584]

According to reports, Iran said that they will take no further action.
300 missiles and drones were launched, but most were intercepted.

[ua_guy]

As of yesterday, it sounds like this hasn't quite blown over. Did anyone really think Israel would sit quietly?

[kork13]

As of yesterday, it sounds like this hasn't quite blown over. Did anyone really think Israel would sit quietly?

I doubt that anyone was under that illusion... I can hope that this tit-for-tat is done with for now, but there's alot of reasons for it not to. It really comes down to which country is willing to show restraint first, and not respond.

Seriously, geopolitics is little better than a kindergarten playground sometimes....