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[Castiel]

I'm not sure you can say that with certainty... no overt engagement yes... no engagement - very doubtful.

It is not that likely that the Revolutionary Guard had any direct engagement with British or US Forces (at least not in Iraq). They were largely intelligence and training officers who were (and probably still are) supporting various militias and insurgent groups.

The Shia Militia didn't always get on with them and the Iranians certainly had their people deployed too - it is unlikely they just took a back seat approach especially given that they used the offer of stopping killing British troops in return for the UK backing off their nuclear enrichment program.

Without going into too much detail....There is some evidence that Iran was effectively supporting The Jaish al-Mahdi in Basra, however it is not as simple as stating this is evidence for overt attacks by Iran on the British. The Mahdi Army were a Shia paramilitary force who opposed what they saw as US occupation of Iraq and Muqtada Al-Sadr has close ties to Iran (primarily due to his Shia affiliations) however he certainly was not a supporter of the Iranian Govt and definitely not of Iranian interference in Iraq. The Mahdi Army were as much at war with rival Shi'te factions such as the Badr and Sunni Insurgent Groups such as Ansar al-Sunnah as they were against the coalition and equally Iranian interests were in supporting Shia factions rather than opposing Coalition troops per se, Iran supported all kinds of groups who were opposed to Saddam Hussein before the Iraqi Wars. Iran has a vested Interest in Iraq and it is to be expected that it would support any faction that serviced those interests, which is precisely what we and other countries do across the world. In fact there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the CIA and other coalition security forces have been involving in cross border 'paramilitary' attacks on Iranian positions, including US support of Sunni Militias within Iran. So again quid pro quo.

IEDs in the form of artillery shells often couldn't penetrate armour... strangely enough IEDs identical to those used by Hezbollah started turning up. I've still got a rather gruesome photo of the remains of a car containing two bodies of some silly individuals who hit a pot hole in a road while transporting them....

Hezbollah were training Iraq Militia so that is not really surprising and again, if we are to look at Iran we must also look at Syria and particularly South Africa.

Erm no - that's just silly - my original post was in reference to a comment that Iran has never attacked us - I'm not advocating military intervention against Iran on that basis. (If there is sufficient evidence of a nuclear program then that is a different story...)

I agree, given significant and incontrovertible proof of a Nuclear Weapons Program then the situation needs to be reassessed. However, Iran is primarily a defensive Nation and if we (namely the United States and Britain by association) did not have an interventionist foreign policy in the middle east then Iran would not see Britain as a thread to it's security.

This is the problem with the middle east, it is not as black and white as the media and US senators would have us believe.

 

[WingZero30]

This is the problem with the middle east, it is not as black and white as the media and US senators would have us believe.

I agree.

Wasn't it the case that during iran-iraq war, israel secrelty supplied weapons to iran?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_support_for_Iran_during_the_Iran–Iraq_war

I think in any conflict there are many dimensions with many behind the scene actors and things aren't as straightforward as media would like us to believe.

It doesn't take long to switch allegiance/defection depending on circumstances/needs.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Most Brits don't want to rape Iraq and Afghanistan for their natural resources.

The whole Iraq and oil thing is yet another boring debate so I won't go there except to say how is that Camerons fault?

Operations in Iraq ended only a year after the Coalition government came to power.

And as for Afghanistan, which natural resources will they be? The only ones they have were only really recently discovered and are hardly worth a war over.

Do you not get bored of seeing a conspiracy in absolutely everything ever? I'd hate to see your reaction if the checkout girl accidently overcharges you in Tesco

 

[dirtydog]

The whole Iraq and oil thing is yet another boring debate so I won't go there except to say how is that Camerons fault?

Operations in Iraq ended only a year after the Coalition government came to power.

And as for Afghanistan, which natural resources will they be? The only ones they have were only really recently discovered and are hardly worth a war over.

Do you not get bored of seeing a conspiracy in absolutely everything ever? I'd hate to see your reaction if the checkout girl accidently overcharges you in Tesco

Define conspiracy. Do you disagree that certain people in the West, in government, conspired to invade Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya?

If you don't, how would you describe it?

 

[Sho]

Just let Israel deal with it. We have enough problems over in the west.

Yes let Israel deal with it, Then Iran will wipe them off the map... Yes i would celebrate that too.

 

[elmarko]

I am British, and patrioitic. But as a patriot, I don't support our government's and our military's illegal and dangerous military adventures which are contrary to British interests.

Nice to see the rare kind of patriotism that I like.

Make a change to the usual "must follow orders like a good little sheep" attitude most people think is linked to patriotism.

 

[RoboCod]

Yes let Israel deal with it, Then Iran will wipe them off the map...

hmmmmmm

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke/

 

[coltpython3]

wow more propaganda. :/ so much ** Please fully star out swear words ** its unbelievable!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

" Iran is making nuclear weapons "

 

[Paul11]

Yes let Israel deal with it, Then Iran will wipe them off the map... Yes i would celebrate that too.

if israel were in danger of being wiped off the map, the whole region would be in trouble

let alone any retaliation israel would make, the instibility it would cause would cause problems all around the world

it would be nothing to celebrate

plus israel supplies a huge amount of things to the world, technology, aid, medical etc ... even Intel has a huge plant there.

 

[Draeger]

Well, it's the Telegraph, I would rate their reporting and research integrity level with the Sun's. I see they have an article entitled "Strike threat despite gold-plated pension deal" which is equally laughable.

 

[[TW]Fox]

wow more propaganda. :/ so much **** its unbelievable!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

" Iran is making nuclear weapons "

How do you or I know its bull? We have access to none of the information required to make that decision yet these days everything is bull apparently.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Define conspiracy. Do you disagree that certain people in the West, in government, conspired to invade Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya?

If you don't, how would you describe it?

You appear to have ignored my questions

 

[dirtydog]

How do you or I know its bull? We have access to none of the information required to make that decision yet these days everything is bull apparently.

Given our governments' proven track record of lying and deliberately deceiving us, why would you trust anything they say?

 

[dirtydog]

You appear to have ignored my questions

The question I asked you, which you ignored, is the first part of me answering your questions.

 

[Cosimo]

wow more propaganda. :/ so much ******** its unbelievable!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

" Iran is making nuclear weapons "

What makes you think they are not?

 

[[TW]Fox]

Given our governments' proven track record of lying and deliberately deceiving us, why would you trust anything they say?

Because the alternative are people on the internet who seem to think they are foreign intelligence professionals?

I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle.

 

[[TW]Fox]

The question I asked you, which you ignored, is the first part of me answering your questions.

I don't see how it explains why Iraq is our PMs fault.

 

[coltpython3]

What makes you think they are not?

im sorry but from any decent humans point of view theyre innocent until proven guilty... not the other way around.

 

[Paul11]

im sorry but from any decent humans point of view theyre innocent until proven guilty... not the other way around.

the article is claiming

"Damning evidence of engineering and testing of nuclear weapons at banned production sites in defiance of UN sanctions"

you are saying that it is not true...

how do you know its not true

 

[Castiel]

What makes you think they are not?

So what if they are?

They have no immediate means of either producing one, testing one and least of all delivering one.

Military incursions in Iran will have a more immediate and tangible negative effect on the region and will adversely affect the Global Economy which is something we would feel. Iranian/Israel/US rhetoric is just that, rhetoric and it suits both the US and particularly the Israeli Administration to draw attention to Iran rather than it focusing on the very real and very current issues with the Palestinian attempt at Statehood.

It is interesting to note that unlike Iran, Israel have very recently tested a missile delivery system capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to Iran.....if we are going to criticise one Midlle Eastern Nation for escalation of tensions then we should equally be critical of them all.

Having said that though, this is all nothing but the usual sabre rattling from all sides and the chances of a military strike, in my worthless opinion at least, are next to zero.