US President Donald Trump never did explain to Congress or anyone else what his justifications and goals would be for attacking Iran. Now, with “Operation Epic Fury” underway, we know. The answer was “everything,” making this a gamble on a scale way beyond anything even this former casino owner has done before.

Setting out goals for military action determines why it is needed, how it will be done and what is the measure of success. In the eight-minute address Trump posted on Truth Social, he laid out at least half a dozen reasons for going to war, starting with the prevention of an imminent threat to the US, of which — with nuclear negotiations due to resume next week — there was none.

He followed up with a string of other motives for this major attack: It would eliminate for good Iran’s nuclear program; destroy its missiles and the production lines to make them; crush its military and ability to support proxies abroad; annihilate its navy; avenge Iranian attacks on US servicemen over 47 years; and halt the Islamic Republic’s further slaughter of its own people.

Yet the most ambitious goal, and the one that must be achieved to make sense of all the others, was regime change. Without that, the Republic and its activities can be weakened, interrupted or delayed, but not stopped. Its missiles, nuclear program,........

© Bloomberg