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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said he attacked Iran to eliminate the threat. It’s less clear how he sees the end of the war.

After the first attack on February 28th

Trump called for an uprising among Iranians after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

But Trump was quick to say that the war he started with Israel was not ultimately about regime change.

After all, the mission of the military operation launched by Mr. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be best summed up by the Pentagon’s name for it: “Epic Fury.”

Trump has threatened to continue more than four weeks of war against the country of 90 million people, where hundreds of people have reportedly been killed, and warned of more devastating attacks.

Facing criticism for a lack of transparency, Trump and his aides on March 2nd

presented four goals for the war

– They are all military in nature.

These include destroying Iran’s naval and military capabilities, ending the clerical state’s support for regional extremists, and halting its development of a nuclear bomb.

Matthew Kroenig, vice president of the Atlantic Council, said Trump has already achieved much of what he wanted, including removing leaders who have long been a thorn in the United States.

He said Trump wanted to see how much the United States could accomplish while avoiding long wars like the ones it waged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I think they can always come home and declare this a success,” said Kroenig, a former Pentagon and adviser to Republican candidates.

“I think your strategy is based on what you want to avoid rather than what exactly you want to accomplish.”

Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Left-wing Center for International Policy, said Iran may actually reject an immediate ceasefire, believing that previous episodes have not retaliated enough to deter new attacks.

“Their ultimate goal is to make sure that this is enough pain and that that pain is felt enough by the United States, by Israel, by our neighbors,” she said.

This strategy is familiar to Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Israel has repeatedly destroyed Syria’s military infrastructure, aiming to undermine its historic rival while it wanes, even as the United States seeks to install former jihadist interim leader Ahmed al-Shara.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the attack, reducing Gaza to rubble.

Attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023

supported by Iranian-controlled clerics.

Before Trump, the United States had traditionally argued for nobler principles as it sought to bring democracy to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on March 2 that Iran has no “democracy-building exercises” and no “stupid rules of engagement.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the United States would be “happy” if “the Iranian people can overthrow this government,” but added that was not the purpose of the war.

Trump’s goal in Iran is “not regime change, but regime collapse,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute and a longtime supporter of engagement with Iran.

“The hope is to reduce Iran’s capabilities and the country’s repressive capabilities as much as possible,” he said.

“From an Israeli perspective, this is all well and good. The further this goes toward not just regime collapse, but state collapse, the more Iran is removed as a player from the geopolitical chessboard.”

Reza Pahlavi, son of the late pro-Western shah who was ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, expressed confidence in the end of the clerical state and called on Iranians to rise up when the opportunity presents itself.

The United States and Israel intervened weeks after authorities crushed large protests that left thousands dead.

Max Boot, a military historian and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it’s unclear whether Trump’s goal is to seek regime change or a change in the administration’s behavior.

“I think he’s basically maintaining ambiguity so that no matter what happens, he can claim it was a big win,” Boots said. “No matter what happens, he will maintain his innocence.” AFP