Well, US certainly ramped things up over the weekend, didn't it?

And if you feel like this is an incredibly serious situation right now, you're not wrong, because there are very few examples - if any - of the US involving itself in the Middle East or surrounding areas and making things better. For the most part, it just ends up backfiring or ending badly.

I mean, there are some really obvious ways with regards to Iran that this could go badly.

First of all - if Iran wasn't making a nuclear weapon, and I have my doubts about that, but if they really weren't, then this may convince them that they really need to get on and make that nuclear weapon because there is only one way to ensure that you don't get bombed by the US, and that is to have a nuclear weapon.

This could also incentivize other countries like Russia to give them a nuclear weapon, which has been a threat from Russia in the last few days.

This could spiral into some sort of instability in the country if there's a regime change in Iran that is worse than the current one, and that's always possible and often is the case.

This could create instability in other parts of the world. If the US gets involved more deeply in Iran and ties itself up there, other countries will have a look at it, see the US is distracted and take their chances in another part of the world. All of that is absolutely fair to be worried about.

However, I would like to caution us all against thinking that Iran is some sort of an innocent victim here, which I think is something that we tend to do in this country.

We don't like the US meddling. We can see from a distance how bad that is. So we see the US as an aggressor, meddling in another country, and then we feel sorry for that country, for the US coming and bullying them.

Do not feel sorry for Iran. Iran are not good guys here. I personally think you'd have to be naïve to believe that they weren't working on a nuke. They've got their facilities underground, for God's sake. What do you think that's for?

And they are motivated to have a nuke, as I said before, to avoid exactly this happening with the US bombing them.
So they've got the motivation, circumstantially it looks like they were up to something, right?

And they are by the way, remember, the ones who supported and funded Hamas, who started this war with Israel in the first place on October 7, 2023. So they are not good guys at all.

Now, they probably had this coming actually. The only thing that we can hope for right now is that it ends with this and to be honest, it's probably a long shot.

LISTEN ABOVE

Well, US certainly ramped things up over the weekend, didn't it?
And if you feel like this is an incredibly serious situation right now, you're not wrong, because there are very few examples - if any - of the US involving itself in the Middle East or surrounding areas and making things better.&nbsp;For the most part, it just ends up backfiring or ending badly.
I mean, there are some really obvious ways with regards to Iran that this could go badly.
First of all - if Iran wasn't making a nuclear weapon, and I have my doubts about that, but if they really weren't, then this may convince them that they really need to get on and make that nuclear weapon because there is only one way to ensure that you don't get bombed by the US, and that is to have a nuclear weapon.
This could also incentivize other countries like Russia to give them a nuclear weapon, which has been a threat from Russia in the last few days.
This could spiral into some sort of instability in the country if there's a regime change in Iran that is worse than the current one, and that's always possible and often is the case.
This could create instability in other parts of the world.&nbsp;If the US gets involved more deeply in Iran and ties itself up there, other countries will have a look at it, see the US is distracted and take their chances in another part of the world.&nbsp;All of that is absolutely fair to be worried about.
However, I would like to caution us all against thinking that Iran is some sort of an innocent victim here, which I think is something that we tend to do in this country.
We don't like the US meddling.&nbsp;We can see from a distance how bad that is.&nbsp;So we see the US as an aggressor, meddling in another country, and then we feel sorry for that country, for the US coming and bullying them.
Do not feel sorry for Iran.&nbsp;Iran are not good guys here.&nbsp;I personally think you'd have to be naïve to believe that they weren't working on a nuke.&nbsp;They've got their facilities underground, for God's sake.&nbsp;What do you think that's for?
And they are motivated to have a nuke, as I said before, to avoid exactly this happening with the US bombing them. So they've got the motivation, circumstantially it looks like they were up to something, right?
And they are by the way, remember, the ones who supported and funded Hamas, who started this war with Israel in the first place on October 7, 2023.&nbsp;So they are not good guys at all.
Now, they probably had this coming actually.&nbsp;The only thing that we can hope for right now is that it ends with this and to be honest, it's probably a long shot.
LISTEN ABOVE

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Don't feel sorry for Iran here

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/ebb3ce3e-193b-424a-b928-b305008530c5/transcript