Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
Following Iran’s statement that diplomacy with the United States is “closed forever” after Washington sanctioned the Supreme Leader and other key officials, including on the foreign minister himself – making it practically hard to actually “do” diplomacy given sanctions also have the impact of restricting travel for the nation’s top diplomat – FM Javad Zarif slammed America’s track record with nukes.
“You were really worried about 150 people? How many people have you killed with a nuclear weapon? How many generations have you wiped out with these weapons?” Zarif said Tuesday in reference to Trump’s calculus that he refrained from ordering last Thursday night’s readied military strike against Iran when informed 150 people would die.
“It is us who, because of our religious views, will never pursue a nuclear weapon,” Zarif added.
Indeed it’s been long understood that since Iran’s Islamic revolution the Ayatollahs have been consistently against nuclear weapons on moral grounds, citing Koranic principles.
The US remains the only country in the world to have ever deployed nuclear weapons in a wartime situation, dropping two on Japan at the end of WWII.
Though scholars generally agree that the overwhelming destruction on Hiroshima and Nagasaki made counting impossible, conservative estimates tend to be at over 200,000 dead and wounded total wrought by the twin atom bombs dropped over those cities. And of course, the overwhelming majority of the Japanese dead and wounded were civilians.
Also on Tuesday Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the White House was “afflicted by mental retardation” amidst a war of words with the Trump administration. President Trump, for his part, said Iran could face “obliteration”.
He tweeted, “Iran’s very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force.” The president then added, “In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration.”
The Administration intends to sanction Iranian FM Zarif later this week. Banning travel & sanctioning Iran's top diplomat (regardless of what you think of him) is hardly a way to signal openness to diplomacy. Trump continues to box himself into war. https://t.co/AjGpbabstX
— Colin Kahl (@ColinKahl) June 24, 2019
Further worrisome is that during an exchange with reporters on Tuesday, Trump said when asked about an “exit strategy” should hostilities with Iran break out, that:
“You’re not going to need an exit strategy. I don’t need exit strategies.”
While there’s hope we’ve already averted that precipice, the administration seems to be increasingly boxing itself in given it’s still ratcheting up the pressure campaign against Tehran while expressing a desire to avoid war.
The two US nuclear bombs on Japan killed 200 000 people, but stopped WWII and saved millions of innocent civilians. Therefore it was worth it! Therefore me and Bolton are prepared to do it again. For a new world order and for world peace! Let it rain with US nuclear bombs over any country that are threatening American interest and our freedom values. Because we do it for the freedom of humanity and for the peace in a world of freedom.
are you being sarcastic or are you for real sir? if you’re for real, then you should be taken to the sanitarium. you’re cursed with the 12 plagues and suffer in eternal damnation
May YOU find the grill of a big truck .
Ill quote whitehot.
” next time you wait for a train, stand on the tracks!”
America is real. What is happening in front of our eyes is real. The dead soldiers are real. Obama and Hitlery are real. Deep State is real. UN Agenda 21&30 is real, and its support from the sheeple is real.
No the nuclear bombs were a demonstration to Russia, nothing to do with saving anybody.
It was a scientific live-test upon civilians, as the Japanese were already suing for peace and surrender.
I’m not familiar with the detail you shared but was shocked recently when I became aware of the fact that Japan had offered to surrender several weeks before the bombs were dropped, but the US refused as Japan wished to retain their emperor. America then went on to accept Japan’s surrender (under the original terms Japan wanted). You are correct also, that the use of the two bombs was intended very much as a demonstration and warning to Russia.
US command got wind of the potential desire of the Japanese to surrender to the Soviets instead of the Americans!! So the nuclear message was for the Soviets to back off.
I know.
But if US havent sent this signal to Russia, Stalin would have killed 6 million joos more and have shot 20 000 Polish officers more in the woods, and 20 million Russians more would also have died and thats not the only thing Stalin would have done.
Therefore it was worth it because US saved all these millions of innocent lives by doing it…………………….………..LOL.
Poe’s law strikes again. It looks like there’s an element of sarcasm there especially in the later sentences, but there are people out there who will say stuff like this for real. At any rate, just in case the point is missed . . . as they say, bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity.
From a military perspective and only that, it was a very cost effective weapon. No sense holding it back, From any other perspective it is a horrific widespread senseless weapon
The use of nuclear bomb on civil people in Japan was an act of cowardice and crime. Yes, it helped to end Japan war, but he main contribution to end Japan came from Japan lost in Manchuria by USSR. Sorry, but western history is highly bias to USA-UK. Let us remember Dresden as a good western criminal action.
Iran is responsible for more deaths than any nuke to date , they brought it up its time to rub it in there faces .
Just plain dumb.
Yes they are aren’t they .
Iran is what now? Iran hasn’t attacked another country in centuries. I suppose you could say they killed a lot of Iraqis during the Iran/Iraq war . . . but that’s because Iraq invaded them, so it’s hard to complain. The US on the other hand has never as far as I know been invaded, they always do the invading, whether it’s Canada (war of 1812–Canada won), Mexico, Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii, Panama, Grenada, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan . . . just off the top of my head. As a Canadian, I’m always really annoyed by Canadian fanatic Yank-boosters. Y’all are so enthused about the US, why don’t you go south where you belong, goddamn traitor.
Do not put attention to this pseudo-canadian person, I suspect that he (or she) is a jew.
Zarif is correct, of course.
In general, I find him a remarkably capable Foreign Minister, displaying intelligence, real understanding, clarity, and a good deal of class.
All those qualities are, of course, entirely absent from Trump and the little gang of bullies who huddle around his desk.
Can anyone imagine spending even half a day penned up with Trump, listening to his crude speech, name-calling, spluttering, and utter ignorance on a host of topics?
Almost by definition, the people who can endure that kind of lunatic abuse are unfit for office.
So please, tell us how Hilary Clinton would’ve been so much better for the US. I’ll look forward to your answer!
Does it matter Ed? Six to one, half a dozen the other! Well said Chuckman. I have always found Zarif to be a true diplomat, quite unlike the rabid dogs from the US
No it doesn’t matter really. But i’m just curious to know from the people who berate Trump, what they think Hilary Clinton would’ve done under exactly the same circumstances and how they think America would’ve been so much better if she had become President! And I’m not even a Trump supporter.
As one of those “people who berate Trump”, I think it would’ve been far worse, with Killary Hellington as the US president; We probably wouldn’t have the chance to have this conversation as she was hell-bent of having an all out war as soon as possible. Zionists would wear her as a sock-poppet too, but she would be a kind of autonomous puppet with an evil AI, a bowl hotter than soup. Trump’s vice is even more awful than him ( a total nutcase, may be one of the reasons he’s not impeached yet) but in Hillary’s case I don’t think it’s possible for Kaine (or anybody) to up her in awfulness.
Another negative point for that evil witch is she’s neither as funny as Trump nor she has comparable physical characteristics for a good cartoon. Plus we probably didn’t have a “Baby Hillary Balloon”.
I see it the same way as you. Trump is not any solution, but he is 10x more straight than any other of these slimy characters in Washington, so we should take care not to change to something 10x worse.
Hillary is a POS too. All Zionist puppets the lot of them. Democrats and republican leaders.
The deaths and destruction from US nuclear testing has not been given a mention here. How many atolls have been rendered inhabitable and how many original inhabitants have died from cancer and been made homeless. Not to mention the US soldiers who were ordered to cement in the craters with absolutely no protection even though the upper echelons knew the dangers. Most died of cancer. The US has not heart, zilch,nada. They are psychopaths to the fullest. If trump wanted to negotiate the JCPOA, he needed to do it within the boundaries of the deal, not walk out on it. Negotiations take time. Bullying lead to war, death and destruction. The Iranians have every reason to never trust the Americans again.
We must remember Dresden, and this was not nuclear.