The conflict between Israel, US and Iran has not been a direct war. Tehran has increasingly utilized non-state actors to expand its regional influence and achieve its strategic objectives in the Middle East.
However, Iran is vulnerable to minorities and groups inside Iran. More than half of Iran’s population are non-persian ethnic minorities—Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens, Baluchs, and dozens more. They dominate vast regions of the country outside the Persian heartland that surrounds Tehran. Most of these minorities live in the border provinces and share ties with co-ethnics in neighboring states, such as Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan. Tehran forbids minorities to educate their children or receive government services in their native languages, but even so, according to Iranian government data, 40 percent of the country’s citizens aren’t even fluent in the Persian language.
In recent years, confrontation between Iran’s ethnic minorities and the ruling regime has been on the rise. The violence is reciprocal: The regime targets ethnic minorities and vice versa.
It is likely that Israel and the US will provide support to the minorities inside Iran.
There is also the use of assassination. Israel hunted down Nazis after WW2. Israel has used assassination for decades to deal with Iranian nuclear scientists and terrorists. These conflicts and actions are and will increase with the Hamas-Israel war and other regional developments.
The Mossad is an Israeli intelligence agency that gathers information and conducts secret operations to keep Israel safe from terrorists. The Mossad’s elite assassins are called kidon. Recruits receive two years of training at Mossad’s training facility near Herzliya.
Wrath of God (began in 1972) was a covert operation directed by Israeli government and Mossad to assassinate individuals alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in the 1972 Munich massacre. Their targets usually included members of Black September and PLO. Most of the assassinations were carried out by bombings.
There is a list of many dozens of operations that were believed to have been by Mossad.
In the last day or so, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard was killed in Syroia and a leader of Hamas was killed in Lebanon.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
Things will speed up though. Israel is destined to take down Hezbollah after it is done with the Gaza strip. Same goes for the Huthies regardless of who is going to go after them. That will raise the possibility of a direct war between Iran and israel.
World war 3 is so slow. Hurry up!! I want to throw my 19 year old trans son into the grinder.
Not a single relevant government on the planet does due diligence to ‘get-along’ for the sake of prosperity for its citizens. They all poke each other in the eyes constantly – and for no benefit to me – I just pay for it.
Because you’re buying the wrong stocks…
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/01/op-ed-war-is-a-good-time-for-investors-to-load-up-on-defense-stock.html
Iran isn’t a bugbear. It is a cowardly irrelevant rounding error that only projects the tiny amount of force that is does by supporting suicide bombers with rudimentary weapons that would have been embarrassing even during WWII if any real military used them.
If not for an implicit backstop by Russia, and increasingly by China, they would be ground into dust.
Once EVs and fracking depress oil prices sufficiently, Iran’s and many of the other smooth brain dictators around the world will have to find new jobs.
Good point but I’m not holding my breath. The percentage of EVs is still tiny compared to combustion engines and will probably remain so into the much anticipated 2030s and 2040s. On the other hand, if Spacex begins producing its own methane for Starship, it could surely produce it, and other fossil fuels, through different processes for the open market and become a company with the net worth of Saudi Arabia. It’s funny but it turns out fossil fuels actually ARE a renewable resource.