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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 15, 2026

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One difference, though, is that having nukes means that it's very unlikely that you will have other countries try to assassinate you. Whereas being able to shut down the Strait of Hormuz and blow up Gulf Arab infrastructure is very nice, but does not deter assassination to anywhere near the same degree.

Having nukes also protects you from other countries trying to invade and overthrow you in a way that conventional deterrence does not. And, while a regime-change invasion by the US seems very unlikely right now, the possibility does hang over the heads of the Iranian leadership. If the US developed the political will to do a regime-change invasion, Iran's government would not be able to do anything to resist it other than put a few speedbumps in its way. The ability to close the Strait of Hormuz and blow up Gulf Arab infrastructure is not a major deterrent to an invasion by the US, since such an invasion would probably succeed rapidly enough that the economic damage would be fairly limited.