Increased economic pressure had the potential over time to precipitate regime change. In the case of Iran, though, Trump has called for regime change – but without preparing the ground for it. This is the lesson of Germany and Japan after World War II, and Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan more recently. Here the parallel is to the 2003 Iraq War, another preventive war of choice in the region that cost the US enormously. He may also have been tempted to achieve something historic in Iran – regime change – that eluded his predecessors.

Source: Libya Today March 02, 2026 00:20 UTC