Iran - boots on the ground |
In a jumbled effort to obtain an off-ramp, the US is claiming to have changed the regime in Iran through sustained assassinations of Tehran's top political and military leadership. However, the 'regime change' as a stated war objective, as 'claimed', is not enough to inject behavioural change in Tehran, given Iran's tenacity, tit-for-tat military responses and its holding of the international economy hostage by Hormuz blockage, in this unjust war, imposed on it. The other war objectives (stated and implied) i.e. Iran's de-nuclearisation, de-missilefication, military surrender, opening Hormuz and re-instilling the Arab confidence in the US-led security architecture, are not possible without boots on the ground.
Although Israel would want to settle the Irani question for good, President's Trump plans to exit Iran in coming weeks. And there are signs that Netanyahu, fearing Trump's loss of interest, has scaled back IDF war objectives to 'degradation' of Irani military capability, under Israeli doctrine of 'mowing the grass' that does not rule out revisits, once the grass grows again. The US seems to be on board.
Iran's unwise conflagration of the conflict by targeting civilian infrastructure in the Gulf, in Saudi Arabia and Türkiye has also cemented the notion in the ME, Asia and West Plus that a desperate Irani regime armed with dangerous hypersonic missiles, doubling down to acquire nuclear capability, and able to choke the world's lifeline in Hormuz, needs serious attention and handling.
The IRGC (Pasdaran)'s strategy of expanding the conflict to raise the cost for the US and indeed the entire world has worked thus far but it will backfire. Its consequences for post-war........