this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2025
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Tehran launched fresh missiles strikes against Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed further strikes on Iran in a military operation that has targeted the nuclear and military facilities of his country's arch enemy.

Shortly after midnight on June 14, Israel said its military had intercepted a new round of Iranian surface-to-surface missiles in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem on the second consecutive day of Iranian air strikes that followed a damaging Israeli air assault on sites linked to Tehran's nuclear program.

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[–] Gorilladrums@lemmy.world 17 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

The Iranian theocracy over the past few years has been feeling real pressure because of how badly Israel has exposed them. Consider what Israel has done to them:

  • Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran

  • Hezbollah got neutered

  • The Iranian embassy in Syria got bombed

  • They completely lost their proxies in Syria

  • They lost the Al Assad regime

  • They had their proxy groups in Palestine, Hamas and the PIJ, get bombed into oblivion

  • Their oil infrastructure keeps getting bombed and damaged

  • They had military bases inside country get attacked

  • Their nuclear facilities keep getting attacked and damaged

  • They had a bunch of their military leaders assassinated

  • They keep losing their top nuclear scientists

  • Mossad has repeatedly shown that it's so balls deep in Iran's affairs that they're borderline running the country

Keep in mind this is just Israel, they're also facing pressure from the US, UAE, KSA, and EU. The Iranian regime has shown time and time again that they won't do anything substantial no matter what. It's a sign that Iran hasn't done anything because they can't, which means they're a paper tiger.

This is just external pressure. Internally, they're also feeling the squeeze because the people DESPISE them:

There are massive protests in Iran every other year since the late 2000s. Here are some recent examples:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahsa_Amini_protests

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932022_Iranian_protests

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932020_Iranian_protests

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018%E2%80%932019_Iranian_general_strikes_and_protests

The mullahs and their regime have completely lost their legitimacy to the people of Iran and they're only still in power because they still have the military on their side which they use to oppress the people. The regime's only way to stay in power is to rule through fear and violence.

On top of this, Iran also has major separatist movements like Kurdistan, Balochistan, Iranian Azerbaijan, and the Arabs in Khuzestan. These groups and regions comprises half the country, and they all want out. The theocracy has to spend an insane amount of effort keeping them down.

So between power moves by foreign powers, the separatists, and the general population, the theocrats are getting squeezed from all sides. This means that the regime is very fragile and they could get ousted from power easily if they show too much weakness.

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I agree with each and every point that you’ve made above, however I disagree with your original statement that Iran is a paper tiger.

A paper tiger would have crumpled already under that level of sustained pressure. For better or worse (and I would definitely argue the latter), Iran is far tougher than we in the West tend to give them credit for.

[–] Gorilladrums@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

A paper tiger doesn't necessarily mean that a country is weak, it just means that a country is weaker than it is perceived. It's a relative term. Iran is much stronger than my home country of Iraq, whom they have thoroughly abused. However, Iraqis in general think that Iran is actually a weak country relative to, say for example, Turkey, who has similar base stats.

The Iranian regime portrays itself as this mighty and powerful power that contend with the West, and here in the West we make Iran seem like it's as powerful as the Soviet Union was... But in reality their strength has been greatly exaggerated by propaganda both inside and outside the country, and their actual capabilities are far less than they are on paper, hence why it's a paper tiger.

You could make the same argument for Russia. Before the Ukraine war both Putin's regime and the West believed that Russia's military was world's second most powerful and that they're strong enough to take on the US... At least in theory. But as it turns out, Russia is way weaker than anybody expected and they keep getting pushed back by Ukraine. Russia is still strong, but they're also a paper tiger.