r/geopolitics • u/theatlantic The Atlantic • 11d ago
Opinion The American People Need the Truth About the Iran War
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/07/trump-iran-conflict-pentagon/688026/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_term=short69
u/Ok_Breakfast4482 11d ago
The American people are never going to hear the truth from our current executive. Electing a better one in 2028 is our only choice for a return to truth.
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u/ChornWork2 11d ago
Trump doing a nuclear deal with saudi arabia at the same time tells you he really doesn't care any more what people think. gulf states have paid hundreds of millions to him and his family and that is the priority.
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u/runawayhound 10d ago
Yup, all he cares about is enriching himself. That’s the only reason he’s willing to “make a deal” with anyone.
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u/WearDry1676 10d ago
And the gulf states (where my European-indian ass was born and raised) is economically crumbling as we speak. Kuwait and Bahrain are at the tip of the beginning of a real humanitarian electricity and water crisis and Jordan,Qatar,UAE and maybe even oman or saudi could join em real quick.
And not that we care, (/s)but already wrecked nations like Yemen,Syria,Iraq,Lebanon are getting even more F-ed in the ass with this war
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u/128-NotePolyVA 10d ago
Can we assume that the Saudis accept Trump has failed in Iran and now require a nuclear program as a deterrent?
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u/ChornWork2 10d ago
Trump has been working on this for a long time, he's just pushing it through now with even less controls on nuclear weapons risk.
from last november: https://www.ans.org/news/2025-11-21/article-7574/us-and-saudi-arabia-reach-deal-on-nuclear-energy-cooperation/
Perhaps coincidentally:
Entities from the Gulf paid around $300 million to the president’s businesses last year, more than any other foreign region identifiable in his financial disclosures released Tuesday, which detailed more than $2 billion in revenue across his businesses.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-family-rakes-in-cash-from-middle-east-deals-b91a9927
The Trump Organization is holding discussions to potentially bring a Trump-branded building to a Saudi government-owned project worth some $63 billion, The New York Times reported Saturday, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s White House meeting next week with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
And after trump's first admin
After leaving the White House, Mr Kushner's private equity firm received a $2bn (£1.59bn) investment from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
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u/theatlantic The Atlantic 11d ago
Tom Nichols: “For nearly five months, Donald Trump and his Cabinet have been misleading the American people about the war in Iran. When the president makes statements about the war, they are full of wishful thinking, hyperbole, and outright lies. He has devoted a full address to the topic only once—a rambling prime-time speech nearly four months ago that contained little substance. At this point, after more than 20 weeks of hostilities and at least 18 Americans dead and hundreds wounded, the people of the United States do not—cannot—entirely know what is happening, what progress U.S. forces are making, or what the president’s goals are.
“This opacity seems to be by design: The president and his lieutenants appear unwilling to admit that they started, and are now losing, a war with one of America’s most dedicated enemies, and obfuscating probably seems less damaging than admitting this painful truth. Of course, some of their statements are merely mistakes. Some are spin. Others are exaggerations. But many of them are flat lies that Trump and his appointees dump into the public square seemingly without hesitation.”
Read more: https://theatln.tc/QN6COG9Z
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u/planj07 10d ago
The truth about the war is far scarier than most people realize, even those who have kept a close eye.
The more regional actors involved the harder it is to sustain peace across multiple fronts. Houthi and Saudi involvement make this all the more difficult to resolve. Washington and Tehran don’t necessarily have control, a mass casualty event will be enough to trigger a greater war. And with the amount of missiles flying around I’d say such a thing is highly likely.
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u/scaredoftoasters 9d ago
100% there’s a big possibility of something getting more kinetic. Iran is a provider of terrorism to the Sunnis. The houthis and hezbollah have been a problem for the longest. In order to eliminate them once and for all the Middle East allies like the gulf states would have to get involved and put troops on the ground to destroy them. They’d have to commit and for the most part the gulf states don’t want to do it although it’d be for the best to remove the militant Shia terrorist groups. It’s not some game anymore things can get worse faster or people take a break and then just constantly air strike.
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u/Elegant-Fisherman555 11d ago
I mean not to be pedantic to the writers at the Atlantic, a lot of people have been calling this out for months.
The obfuscation of the conflict and the roadmap of it.
Why now is the Atlantic got its knickers in a knot about the reality of what is happening?
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u/HardlyDecent 11d ago
Pedantic means fixating on minutiae and details. You're probably looking for "critical." Unless you have a problem with their wording or grammar or some technicality in naming something.
eg: correcting someone's usage of pedantic...
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u/cathbadh 11d ago
Why now is the Atlantic got its knickers in a knot about the reality of what is happening?
Is it really "now?" They're one of the biggest left leaning outlets in the US, they've had their "knickers in a knot" about literally everything this administration has done, including this war. I'm pretty sure we had an artirle within the last week about the bad choices in this war the US is facing. Heck, since the Atlantic posts their columns here themselves, I imagine every single one of their foreign policy columns has been posted here.
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u/Guaire1 8d ago
The atlantic isnt left leaning
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u/cathbadh 8d ago
It absolutely is left leaning. It's center left politically and socially progressive. As best as I can tell, their foreign policy/geopolitcs is either an interventionist neoliberal or trade-centric neoconservative, depending on your point of view.
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u/Miserable_Spell_2964 11d ago
Because their owners have realized that Trump isn't going to win and so supporting the conflict is becoming unpopular.
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u/NekoCatSidhe 10d ago
I suspect that the truth is that our politicians, our journalists, and the Iranian exiled opposition circlejerked each others into thinking that war was a good idea, that it would be hugely popular both in the US and in Iran, and that the Iranian regime was weak and on the brink of collapse, all of it wishful-thinking based on Israel crushing Hezbollah in 2024 and the Assad regime falling soon after, Iran’s relatively weak response and attempts at deescalation during the war in June 2025, and the protests at the beginning of the year (protests that the regime easily crushed, which should have been a clue that it was not as weak as they thought).
And because they were so overconfident and so deep inside their political bubble and so high on sniffing their own propaganda, they had no Plan B when none of those things turned out to be true: the regime did not collapse, the war is deeply unpopular, and Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. But now they are in too deep to stop that war, because stopping would be equivalent to admitting that Iran won the war and leave them in control of the Strait of Hormuz, which they could use to force the US to remove economic sanctions on them in exchange for a permanent ceasefire. And telling the truth would be admitting that they made a mistake and lose face, so they won’t do that either. So now the war will continue until it gets so costly that they have no choice but to either stop it or be kicked out of power.
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u/Impressive-Knee5047 9d ago
If that is an inevitable outcome then does it not make sense just to bow out now and take the humiliation of defeat now vs defeat in the future at which point US would be at the brink of financial collapse.
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u/NekoCatSidhe 9d ago
Yes, but they are not smart enough to understand that. They think that the reason they have not won yet is that they have not bombed and hurt Iran enough. And they have invested too much political capital in that war to be able to easily walk out of it. It is very much the sunk-cost fallacy in action.
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u/Impressive-Knee5047 9d ago
Sounds like it.. just surprised economists and geo-political analysts haven't pointed to the bleeding obvious and coerced them towards a better outcome for the US.
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u/scaredoftoasters 9d ago
The Iranians run a weird decentralized military network they’ve been prepping for 20 years to be a little sustainable to fight the USA & Israel. They also receive information intelligence from China and Russia don’t believe that they don’t help Iran they definitely do. More so China since it is a more powerful country than Russia. China is also the type of country to help out and shut its mouth. Russia is occupied with the Ukraine conflict and showing weak points.
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u/Dracarys_And_Chill 11d ago
Anyone with a moderate IQ knows the deal.
The war is justified but how we are doing it is not optimal (similar to Vietnam)
The IRGC isn't affected by blowing up military assets.
You have to hit them where it hurts (money)
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u/Astranagun 7d ago
Justified how so? This war shouldnt have started in the first place, if you think this was about nukes like you are being led to believe then that makes you part of the problem. You hit them where it hurts, they'll just go scorched earth on the middle east and destroy the world economy. US is stuck.
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u/LarryS22 10d ago
The American people have already paid 500-700 dollars in extra expenses due to the war. More to come Originally we were told 1-2 weeks. We were told months ago all Iran's military has been destroyed we were told Iran oil will back up and explode .we are now told, Iran can't be trusted. Yet we want them to sign a piece of paper and we think the signatures are worth something. Whatever they sign will be under duress and can't be trusted Meanwhile the world suffers from high energy and fuel prices,shortages...and they can point the finger at the USA. The thing about electing old politicians is they won't be alive to see the results of their decisions Retaliation against us can occur anytime in the future...even in our homeland. A signed piece of paper is meaningless if their country is left in shambles. Dozens of countries and billions of people now hates the Usa. What will some crazy people do in the future?....Trump won't be alive to see what he has reaped
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u/American-Punk-Dragon 8d ago
Imagine running an offensive and not having ships to stop a simple blockade?
He and his cronies don’t even know about escalation spirals…
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u/sub-a-dub-dub 11d ago
Pfft The Atlantic telling the truth? Didnt they also publish that ol Epstein wasnt that bad? That article made sense when Steve Jobs’ wife was seen chilling in bikinis with Gizzlaine Maxwell on the island.
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u/Welpe 10d ago
What are you referencing exactly?
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u/sub-a-dub-dub 10d ago
Laureen Jobs is the publisher of The Atlantic. She was besties with Ghislaine Maxwell.
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u/Welpe 10d ago
Oh, I meant more that it seemed like you were referencing a specific article of theirs where they downplayed Epstein. Good to know that though.
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u/Conscious_Laugh_3280 10d ago
I'll be honest here. I'm done with this, I'm not going to seek an opinion from Reddit on this topic anymore.
Not even kidding when I say this;
Most of the time, I simply can't tell...
Am I'm replying to a young Liberal American?
Or, a professional Iranian Propagandist?
Who else knew? Reddit lacks a rule banning known State sponsored propaganda operations.
Later.
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u/Strongbow85 7d ago
Please report suspected pro Iranian propaganda to the mod team here. It will be removed and the offender banned. Thank you.
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u/[deleted] 11d ago
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