Indeed. They buy IIRC almost 90% of Iran’s oil.

And they almost certainly buy the overwhelming majority of Iran's oil after this operation is done, assuming the country doesn't completely fall into chaos. Whoever runs Iran after the bombing stops is going to be willing to sell to China just as much as before.

Most people on the receiving end of an ass-kicking remember what the boot looked like and who was wearing it. But if you think the Venezuelan military wants another go at the US (this time *absent* all their anti air because we blew it all up during the Maduro raid)...be my guest.

But they didn't personally get any ass-kicking. This was an incredibly well-done, but incredibly narrow operation. They took Maduro and killed a few dozen security staff....and that's it. Because that's all Trump wanted to do - take out Maduro, claim victory, and leave everything else unchanged.

There's no reason for them to be particularly worried about a repeat of that, either. The U.S. is going to be busy for a while, between Iran and possibly Cuba - and isn't going to be eager to admit that nothing much was accomplished in Venezuela by removing Maduro. Heck, until his trial they're going to be reluctant to admit he was removed for geopolitical reasons rather than for his own personal crimes.

Sure it does. It’s highly clear from your first set of comments that you think Iran is either Gaza (where literally everyone there is an Islamic fanatic) or Iraq (very clannish and also prone to fight).

Your original post kinda left out that Persia has a massive history, that they remember not being a sh1thole prior to 1979 and that their culture and nation isn’t some made up thing from a British map. They go back literally thousands of years.

It is not at all clear from my comments, because I don't think the Iranian people or culture are similar to Gaza or Iraq. My comparison was to the fact that Iran, like Gaza, has had a repressive military dictatorship that has had decades to use violence to purge the populace of any leadership, organization, or movement that could possibly pose any threat to their control. Therefore, there is literally nothing currently existing among the people that can serve as the nucleus for any kind of resistance - which makes incredibly long odds that they could ever overcome an entrenched, organized, well-armed, and ruthless military trying to hold onto power.

At any rate, that’s up to the Iranian people to decide if they want to go for it or live under the mullah’s thumbs. We’re good either way so long as we set their mischief making back several years.

It's not up to them. If we leave the existing regime in place, the existing regime will "decide." The people don't get to decide, because the people don't have the guns. The people have had every single potential opposition leader jailed or executed. This isn't the colonies in 1776, who didn't have self-government but had a lot of personal freedom and their own domestic quasi-independent governance structures and a host of other things that have been excised from the Iranian milieu.