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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   1391 thread views

Transnational Thursday for July 9, 2026

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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The key facet now seems to no longer be regime change or demilitarizing Iran or nukes but about whether Iran can impose a toll or not on the straits. That's what Iran is trying to do. They shot at some freighters using an unapproved route, US struck Iran in retaliation. It has nothing to do with the 4th of July.

It's a bit like the second phase of the Iran-Iraq war where the Iranians pushed Iraq out and sought to install a new revolutionary regime in Baghdad. They overreached there, the US and Soviets made sure Iran couldn't win. We'll see if this is an overreach too...

To clarify a bit, the reason I think the 4th could be relevant is that there may be a desire on the part of the administration to keep oil prices down while Americans are traveling for vacation and to keep war news to a minimum during the 250th celebrations.

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