I am still waiting to hear a clear explanation from the Trump admin. on why they (with Israel) attacked Iran recently. There's no denying Iran's connection with terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, nor that they've been a bad actor in the region for decades, but . . . what else is new? Nothing, it seems:
- they were not planning an attack on the U.S. or allies;
- their nuclear program had supposedly been "obliterated" by the U.S. in attacks during June 2025;
- there was no emergency triggering the action;
- Congress had not authorized any attack;
- negotiations were ongoing.

Iran is not Venezuela! Their political system isn't based on loyalty to a dictator, but is founded in theocratic ideology. That's different from Iraq, too, Iran's neighbor; toppling Saddam was the easy part, establishing new political leadership took years and hundreds of American lives (hundreds of thousands of Iraqis as well). Iran most likely has layers of plans for leadership and response already in place. While a high percentage of Iranians support regime change, they will meet with fierce resistance, as they did in January, when over 38,000 were killed for protesting against the government. Remember, people danced in the streets when Saddam was chased out as well. Then came the chaos.

Those of us who lived through the Viet Nam war years will also recall the changing justifications for the war, and the promise that it would be short-lived. Violent conflagrations have a way of spreading and getting out of hand.

Time to pray, pray, pray -- for wise leadership, and courage in Congress.

https://www.americamagazine.or...s-catholic-just-war/

Good reflection on whether the U.S - Israel attack of Iran satisfies the criteria of the "Just War Theory" developed by St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas to evaluate circumstances for Christians going to war.
- The U.S. action fails on every point!
- The article explains why. See what you think and post a comment.

"America" is a magazine published by the Jesuits, a Catholic religious order of men and founders of universities like Creighton, Georgetown, Fordham, Loyola, Xavier, Marquette, St. Louis, Boston College, and many others.

It goes without saying that many Christians won't care about Just War principles. For them, patriotism means supporting the leaders, right or wrong. That's not Christianity.

- Keep in mind: neither the war in Viet Nam nor Iraq satisfied just war theory, and the consequences were catastrophic.

"In a statement, Weinstein suggested the reports indicate an increase in Christian extremism in the military, noting that the complainants “report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders” who perceive a “‘biblically-sanctioned’ war that is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian ‘End Times’.”

- https://www.theguardian.com/wo...r-christian-rhetoric
____________

This perspectives on the end times (pre-millenial eschatology) is common among Evangelical Christiants, and I've read that a few Catholic priests are teaching this as well. It's not what the Catholic Church teaches, and the Evangelicals have been wrong aobut this so many times through the years that you would think they'd have let it go by now.

God does not endorse or require war for the Christ to come again.

Here's a hopeful article on a positive way the war with Iran could end, with ongoing benefits to them and the world. See what you think.

https://thehill.com/opinion/na...deal-to-end-the-war/

Well, that hopeful option wasn't realized!

The 14 point agreement between the U. S. and Iran is now available (see link below) and I'm not seeing any significant change over the status quo that existed before Trump's war. If anything, the U.S. will have less influence than before.
- Regime Change? Didn't happen, and won't.
- Reining in Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, and other groups? Nope.
- Destruction of Iranian military capability? Significant, but Iran can still inflict heavy damage at will, and they can rebuild what was damaged.
- Eliminating Iran's nuclear program (that had supposedly been "obliterated" in U.S. bombing last year)? Questionable, at best!

Additionally, the status quo from the U.S. side will be worse:
- $300 billion to help rebuild Iran; undecided how this will be funded
- Termination of all sanctions against Iran
- Strait of Hormuz to now include more monitoring and possible taxation by Iran.
- U.S. agrees to drastically scale down presence in the region.

Sounds more like a U.S. surrender to Iran, doesn't it?

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/17...an-war-mou-text-intl

My MAGA family and friends seem to be greatly relieved that President Trump has secured from Iran assurance that they will never build a nuclear weapon. For them, eliminating that possibility would worth the costs of the war.

- Hey, that's what Iran has always said, even before the Obama-led nuke deal (JCPOA) that Trump tanked in 2018.
- Obama, at least, had inspectors going in and verifying their reduction of Uranium. So far, Trump just has their promise, but presumably he can work out a verification process as good as Obama had secured (how he would hate that comparison).

To back up a step, however: so what if Iran were to develop a nuclear weapon and delivery missiles?
- It doesn't follow that they would use it, as they surely know that they'd be targeted in return, right?
- Even North Korea knows this, and they have 50-60 nuclear warheads and missiles that can be delivered all the way to the U.S. if they choose to launch. But they don't! Why is that? Their leader is batshit crazy but even he gets it that he wouldn't escape unharmed from a nuclear exchange. This has been the basis of the insane nuclear standoff between the U.S. and other countries since WWII.
- To digress a little: why isn't Trump/MAGA advocating a war with N. Korea if the whole point is to keep nukes out of the control of rogue nations?

Justifying the senseless, tragic war that Trump initiated against Iran because "at least they won't have nukes now" simply illustrates how drunk one is on MAGA kool-aid! There's no *guarantee* that will actually happen, and no indication that it would be a grave danger to anyone if it didn't. Iran now knows it can inflict great harm on the world by closing the Strait of Hormuz and it doesn't need nukes to do so. The greater, ongoing threat from Iran is their sponsorship of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and the war has done nothing to change that.