"out of the blue."
The dance with Iran has gone on for over twenty years now. But hey, the world began six years ago, right? This is why Saddam's behavior over his entire reign seems to be of absolutely no significance to many people when deciding if he was a threat today.
I pointed out that the Iranians had done this before, without the "U.S. provocation" being invoked here. As usual, simple evidence is never enough to make the case.
I watched this thread and one or two others for a while, as the usual cast extended every possible consideration to the Iranian position, and discarded the Western positions without a moment's thought. Pretty much par for the course.