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I really don't see much difference in Iran having nuclear power or weaponary compared to Pakistan. Yet we don't see this type of attitude from the US and other countries in the immediate area (other than India) towards Pakistan.

The domestic affairs handling applies equally to both countries, so why should Iran get singled out here?




They're not singled out. North Korea is also being treated similarly in regards to their pursuit and build-up of nuclear weapons. North Korea has been suffering under brutal sanctions and embargo on and off for decades now.

Pakistan already has nukes and they're dangerously unstable. Pakistan is by a large margin the most unstable nuclear power. North Korea by comparison is a stable insular kingdom ruled by a dynasty family that has held power through thick and thin for 70 years. Pakistan is a powder keg always waiting to explode. Applying North Korean style sanctions on Pakistan is a lot more likely to result in an exceptionally bad outcome. And Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, so if they crack into revolution right now that would not risk potential nuclear war or proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Further, Iran has openly declared their intention to genocide Israel, on repeat. They say it whenever they get the chance. North Korea for decades has declared their desire to conquer South Korea and create one Korea under their rule, they repeat that at every opportunity (and when a country says for decades that they want to conquer you and they have nukes, you have to take them at their word).


> Further, Iran has openly declared their intention to genocide Israel, on repeat.

Based on my understanding, that's based on a misinterpretation so what they're actually saying in Farsi. Even so, the attitude of the population and government in Pakistan towards Israel isn't that much different. Even if you consider the dynamics between Pakistan and India, the last war was 50 years ago and other than some skirmishes, nothing major happened.

If we were to substitute Iran for Pakistan and Israel for India, would the situation be really that different?

> North Korea for decades has declared their desire to conquer South Korea and create one Korea under their rule

To a certain extent, this is what happened in Vietnam and the country appears to be doing okay these days.


> Based on my understanding, that's based on a misinterpretation so what they're actually saying in Farsi.

On Israel, there are very explicit messages around, though it's more of a "Zionist" genocide. The IR will not care if the Jews just go out of the ME, presumably.


The Ayatollah is in record as stating they desire a referendum to solve the Palestinian question: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/452465/Referendum-is-fair-s...

It seems they are not using every opportunity to advocate for genocide. Definitely some mixed messaging?

On a more serious note, the notion that Iran wants to build a nuclear weapon so they can throw it on Israel is nonsense. Yes, Israel is perfectly right to be concerned about a country that would act against its security interests whenever given the chance, and would do so at least in part for ideological reasons (though this aspect is also overblown in the common narrative).

But they haven't really declared their intention "to genocide Israel". You'll find that in most quotes that circulate, a defensive posture is implied ("if they dare to attack us"). People argue about whether the original Khomeini/Ahmadinejad quote ("wiping Israel off the map") should be translated as "removed from the pages of time", but it more importantly says "the regime occupying Palestine". Again, no peaceful agenda towards the country of Israel is to be found here, but no need for comically evil holocaust-like plans either.


Iranian leadership has referred to Israelis as "so-called humans"; has demanded a "final solution" to Israel; has repeatedly denied that the Holocaust happened, including hosting a Holocaust denial conference; has referred to Israel as a "cancerous tumor" to be destroyed; ...

You don't have to look hard to find this stuff. These aren't mistranslations or misunderstandings. A lot of these translations were done by the Iranian Republic themselves in press releases!

These are less subtle than Trump's dog whistles about "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" — which was bad enough. These are obvious, repeated, consistent statements and actions.




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