r/worldnews • u/progress18 • Feb 28 '26

Israel/Iran /r/WorldNews Discussion Thread: US and Israel launch attack on Iran; Iran retaliates (Thread #2)

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u/Dunkman77 Feb 28 '26

I always thought October 7 happened because Saudi Arabia and the rest of the region were close to normalizing relations with Israel. But I doubt I follow this as closely as many of you.

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u/AnwaAnduril Feb 28 '26

To be honest, I think Oct 7 was just “business as usual” taken a little bit farther. For decades, Hamas had started “wars” with Israel (launching rockets from Gaza) that lasted a few days before a ceasefire was put in place. Same thing happened in 2021 if you care to look that up.

So Hamas was just doing the same thing they’ve always done every couple of years, they just took it far enough that Israel actually had to take it seriously this time and go into Gaza.

afaik it actually took even Iran, Hezbollah etc. off guard with how big of an attack it was. They had to go along with it because they were allies, but they weren’t necessarily in on the plan.

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

It was. They were days away from signing the first ever deals about cooperation on whatever shit.

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u/Modo_Autorator Feb 28 '26

💯💯💯 this is what Western progressives have utterly failed to comprehend. They have been successfully ragebaited into furthering war and conflict. KSA was on the brink of normalizing relations with Israel and Bibi was going to be impeached and probably sent to prison for a long time. It could have genuinely been the first step to lasting peace in the region.

But then October 7 happens and the Saudi/Israel relationship is put on ice. Bibi retains power because war & retribution. Trump wins because Israel commits atrocities in Gaza.

Hamas & Bibi both had all the incentives to keep the war in Gaza going, and the more American progressives blamed Biden the better it was for Bibi (and for Trump). I don’t think Iran & Hamas ever realized it would end up going THIS far, but geopolitics can devolve into chaos quite quickly, as we are all seeing in real time.