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Comment by shevy-java | Hacker News Reader

Well, if you make that distinction then we'd have to go to 1948 or so; or even way before that. But if we keep it on the current timeline then it is true that Israel and the USA attacked Iran not long ago.

If you want to include proxies then you'd have to include all who support the proxies, and also include the USA on the other side, including NATO. So is that the point you wish to make here? China would also have to be included on Iran's side by the way.

> I'm not sure if the "who started the war" question is that clear-cut.

I think it is clear-cut. They refer to Israel and the USA bombing Iran. That's very clear.

If you want to go back to history then we have more actors. But it is clear that they refer to the recent start of the war. Right now the USA is still at war against Iran too; that Israel is permanently at war with Iran is also true.

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Yeah GP post kinda makes me sick to my stomach, ignoring this historical reality. Much like a lot of Russians would say Ukraine started the war when I distinctly remember the armed forces rushing armored columns of tanks towards Kiev, sending attack helicopters with elite paratroopers on one way missions, and firing barrage after barrage of cruise missiles.

In this case, it's also pretty clear cut. The hostilities happened after we decapitated Iran's regime and started bombing their bases/infrastructure and even a girl's school.

Russia invaded Ukraine. You can point to their "little green men" invading Crimea in 2014, for example.

I don't mean this in a bad way, but your start date for the hostilities is very american-centric. Israel and Iran were attacking each other in 2024 and 2025, for example. The "Twelve-Day War" was in June 2025, but the war only started when the US got involved and hit the girl's school? That doesn't make sense to me.

>Israel and Iran were attacking each other in 2024 and 2025

Reality: Multiple surprise attacks launched by Israel, including killing Irans diplomatic negotiators while actively negotiating.

If they were negotiating something, then clearly it didn't start there either. This supports my position that 1) this isn't a simple black and white question and 2) "who started it" depends on the date we decide to pick.

We can argue if it's right to do that while negotiations are going on, but that's a different question.

I think it's rather obvious that it didn't start with israel killing negotiators.

> if you make that distinction then we'd have to go to 1948 or so; or even way before that

And that's why I wrote this:

> most will "whatabout" their way through a century of history

Every action is a reply to something, and it keeps going. It never ends. Everyone has a different start date to whatever is happening.

> I think it is clear-cut. They refer to Israel and the USA bombing Iran. That's very clear.

But Israel and Iran were attacking and launching missiles at each other in 2025.

I mean, if one thinks that everything orbits around the US and a war only starts when they get involved, then sure... but there was a war going on before February 2026.

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