Iran launches drone attack against Israel as Biden rushes to White House
Iran said it launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel on Saturday in a major attack following days of acute tension building up in the region and warnings from the US and elsewhere about a wider conflict erupting.
Air attack warning sirens began wailing over Jerusalem just before 2am local time on Sunday after the weapons were fired a few hours earlier from Iran with US and Jordanian military assisting Israel’s air defenses in intercepting the first incoming barrage.
With weapons believed to be still in the air en route to Israel, Iran’s mission to the United Nations posted on X: “Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus. The matter can be deemed concluded.”
However, it threatened more severe action in the face of further Israeli aggression and warned the US and Jordan specifically not to assist Israel.
Edit: here are links to the NYT and BBC live feeds.
Edit 2: updated summary and archive to reflect article changes.
Oil
Shipping zones for commerce
Strategic locations for the above
Not looking to be antagonizing, as you're correct those are the reasons. But it should be said that they are stupid reasons. We should be weaning off oil as quickly as possible. The second point is in a lot of ways a hindrance, as shipping zones means shipping away manufacturing jobs.
And none of that is worth the price of war, or supporting genocide.
Not to mention that plenty of countries through the world are capable of engaging in maritime commerce with Middle Eastern countries without having military bases there.
To be fair, they enjoy that luxury due to the fact that the US Navy protects the shipping lanes.
It's not like we wouldn't use other ones if the area suddenly became unusable. Sure, it would be expensive. But hardly a need.
Completely agree. Just listing what I could think of for reasons. 👐