The piece says the quiet part out loud: smashing Iranian targets is not the same thing as replacing Iran’s regime, and U.S. intelligence reportedly sees that gap more clearly than Donald Trump does. “It sounds like a deeply informed assessment of the Iranian system and the institutions and processes that have been established for many years.” Suzanne Maloney, Brookings Institution, in The Washington Post “Bending the knee to Trump would go against everything they stand for.” “The upper echelons of the clerical establishment are ideological, and so their modus operandi is to resist American imperialism.” Holly Dagres, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in The Washington Post --------- {𝗮𝙅𝙎𝘿} Military coercion can only take Trump so far when it is paired with implausible assumptions about regime change.

💣🧠🇮🇷🍊🤡 Hashtags: #Iran #RegimeNonChange #ForeignPolicy Classified U.S. intelligence reportedly says even a large American assault would be unlikely to topple Iran’s clerical-military regime or hand power to the opposition — a blunt reality check on Trump’s kingmaker fantasy in Tehran. #WarWatch