Trump’s endgame in Iran: Regime change without US ‘boots on the ground’
Al Jazeera
Analysts say it would be difficult, if not impossible, to bring down the Iranian system with US-Israeli air power alone.
Washington, DC – Hours after the United States and Israel unleashed their bombing campaign against Iran on Saturday, President Donald Trump said that all he wants from the war is “freedom for the people”.
Analysts say that despite this claim and other objectives articulated by US officials, Trump appears to be seeking to collapse the ruling system in Tehran.
Kelly Grieco, senior fellow at the Stimson Center think tank, told Al Jazeera that achieving such a sweeping political shift will be difficult – if not impossible – without troops on the ground.
“It seems like they’re not willing to pay certain costs to achieve regime change, so there’s sort of a set of secondary goals that perhaps will be enough if they can’t achieve that through air power alone,” Grieco said.
After the opening US-Israeli strikes, Trump told the Iranian people that their “moment of freedom” is at hand.
Analysts say it would be difficult, if not impossible, to bring down the Iranian system with US-Israeli air power alone.
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