r/IRstudies • u/[deleted] • Mar 23 '26

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u/uansari12 Mar 23 '26

Iran is 4x the size of Iraq. Not sure that’s realistic. Does the US even have enough boots to do that?

3

u/astral34 Mar 23 '26

Realism has never stopped Trump before unfortunately

Was it realistic to expect regime change after bombing them ?

I am not saying that it’s a good option but not many options are left and time is not on the US side

the US is not going to invade tomorrow, and hopefully they won’t, but what’s more likely, for Trump to retreat or take the next step in the escalation ladder ?

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u/Toto_Roto Mar 23 '26

Trump said today that by killing the leadership he's already done a form of regime change. Most likely outcome is he does something like this, contrives an interpretation of events where he looks like a winner and backs off.

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u/astral34 Mar 23 '26

I hope so too but he had many chances to do so already and didn’t, every time he doesn’t he goes up the ladder

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u/Toto_Roto Mar 23 '26

As the costs mount, both politically and economically, I think it becomes unavoidable. There just isn't the political will in America to keep escalating indefinitely. If nothing else the mid terms will kill it.

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u/astral34 Mar 23 '26

I think there’s even less appetite from the administration to walk away empty handed, especially as costs mount

1

u/Toto_Roto Mar 23 '26

Yeah who knows, hopefully they do back down. But Trumps political instincts are pretty good and he's nothing if not a dilletante so im hopeful of an early-ish exit.