It was beyond disconcerting to hear the Iranian foreign minister on Sunday sounding like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky circa 2022. That assassinates Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sparking retaliatory attacks by Iran across the Middle East. By contrast, President Trump took out a theocratic dictator who in January told his security forces to crush mass protests against him with lethal force , leading to thousands of deaths. Many of us remember President George W. Bush’s grandiose notions of exporting democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq. The protected U.S. zone in Baghdad during the Iraq war?

Source: Los Angeles Times March 05, 2026 00:01 UTC