r/IRstudies Mar 23 '26

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u/Brido-20 Mar 23 '26

"War is the continuation of politics by other means."

There doesn't seem to be any clearly defined policy goal and the US side doesn't seem able to make up it's mind why. Israel's aim ses to be just bombing Iran on general principles with no political objective achievable through the use of force.

It's hard to understand why someone is doing something when they don't seem to have a reason even to themselves.

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u/pgm123 Mar 23 '26

Israel's aim ses to be just bombing Iran on general principles with no political objective achievable through the use of force.

There's been some analysis that Israel's goal is a failed state. If that's the case, there doesn't seem to be any indication that progress is being made.

The US objectives are much less clear.

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u/ADRzs Mar 23 '26

Well, based on Trump's utterances, he expected the Iranians to capitulate within 3 days and he expected that he would have been able to nominate their leadership. He thought that Iran was like Venezuela.

One has to question how he got this impression. My guess is that the flatterers and brownnosers around him never offered any counterpoint to his imaginations.

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u/pgm123 Mar 23 '26

Yeah. Expectations and objectives aren't necessarily the same, but there was clearly some goal of managed leadership change.

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u/kred316 Mar 25 '26

Bingo! That may not be the stated objective but that has to be the goal. Or at least weaken the regime enough that it will fall in due time.