[SmirkingRevenge]

I think it's mostly that the leaders in the current administration are very stupid and full of hubris - so they genuinely thought they could just decapitate Iran's leadership and the survivors would quickly capitulate.

Given the situation with the strait, it's clear they were caught off guard that the Iran regime has survived a transition (for now) and is fighting back.

[pjc50]

Yes - oddly parallel to the VDV decapitation attack on Ukraine. Supposed to be a quick win, now a quagmire, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dead Russians.

[api]

Why can't people reverse the roles and see how silly this is?

Let's say the US had a massively unpopular regime that had taken power to the point that they couldn't be removed by elections.

Now let's say the Chinese start bombing us to "liberate" us.

People would be cool with that, right? Everyone would cheer for the Chinese, right?

[srean]

Did the personal portfolios of US stakeholders gain?

Trump and his ilk likely care about that more than what effect it has on the US.

[cbg0]

There are much easier ways to manipulate the stock market and enrich yourself when you have high office, starting a war after you've campaigned against wars isn't the logical step.

[srean]

I don't think so. Much easier. Much easier to get away with.

Administration charged with insider trading and corruption charges, that's not a very remote possibility. President and administration charged with treason -- quite remote.

[t-3]

I suspect they also wanted to distract from the Epstein files and probably expected some domestic "rally around the flag" effect. The first seems to be mostly successful for now, the second not as much.

[hermitcrab]

"The enemy always gets a vote"