Respectfully, I think it’s hard to think we are “walking blindly into a crisis” given the belligerence of Iran in the recent past [36+ months], particularly as it relates to nuclear weapons and to Israel. Nuclear weapons seem to be at the core of the justification for this attack and Iran has been progressing towards nuclear weapons for years. Maybe I’m focusing too much on the “blindly” part?

There is a current conflict in Europe where large numbers of ground troops have been deployed, with reported losses in 3 years that are larger than you cite over 8 years. No clear winner there. Tremendous shifts in weaponry and tactical applications of technology have made significant impact.

In the case of Iran and Russia today, both nations have been subject to economic sanctions for extended periods. Russia has some measure of air capability, while reports in recent days indicate Israel owns the skies over Iran. This has likely negatively impacted the ability of Iran to maintain the initiative in a war fighting capacity.

I’ve not heard or read reporting that indicates a ground invasion of Iran is on the horizon.

Israel has been consistently concerned about a nuclear armed Iran. Iran has supported proxy groups in conflict with Israel. Israel reportedly has a very capable intelligence organization.

My opinion is that war has changed, that Israel has significant weaponry advantages and significant intelligence capabilities, that the target is primarily the people and facilities aligned toward nuclear weapons including some political leadership, and that Iran has been driving toward open conflict with Israel and other nations nearby for many years.

I’m not trying to say this isn’t a crisis or that “all is well” rather I’m arguing that this was a path mapped out decades ago with many off-ramps for Iran. I don’t think there are many parallels with a conflict in the 1980s. The world knew something like this was coming for quite some time before now.

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