re: #514 KT Smells like Roses and Rainbows

Basically it would greatly complicate ant international or foreign support for a popular uprising.It gives the mullahs greater capability to escalate conflicts in other areas to create problems for Western powers. It also opens up the possibility of giving proxy groups like hamas or Hezbollah materials for dirty bombs etc, that they wouldn’t be able to get on their own. Since Hezbollah is now operating more internationally (with Iranian assistance) this becomes a more serious concern.

I don’t see a credible scenario in which the West could engage in any real supporting actions in an Iranian uprising. Western Europe wasn’t able to do much without US support even in Libya, and any US involvement would be socially and politically toxic.