Trump’s agenda now: Destroy Iranian regime's ability to govern – opinion

At a cabinet meeting at Camp David, US President Donald Trump declared that the United States is prepared to significantly escalate military pressure on Iran.

Reaffirming his stance, he stated, “We’re going to hit them very hard. Eventually, they’ll reach a point where they say, ‘We can’t go on anymore.’” He added, “We just want to win.”

For obvious security reasons, the final decision on executing these strikes is expected only hours before launch.

The strategic emphasis has now shifted decisively toward Iran’s critical energy infrastructure in an effort to push the regime into a corner. Such pressure on Iran’s ruling dictatorship could also ignite another wave of nationwide public unrest – particularly after nearly half a century in which the Islamic Republic has failed to deliver meaningful development or prosperity for the Iranian people. Instead, the regime has become a source of perpetual crisis, confrontation, and instability.

Many Iranians would welcome the humiliation, defeat, and eventual surrender of the ruling establishment. Although disrupting the regime’s vital infrastructure would inevitably impose temporary hardships on society, many opponents of the Islamic Republic regard such suffering as comparable to the pains of childbirth – a difficult but necessary transition that could ultimately lead to the regime’s collapse.

Meanwhile, Tehran’s propaganda machine has promised broad retaliation, warning that attacks on critical infrastructure will be met with a severe response. These statements amount to an indirect acknowledgment that the regime is preparing for a wider confrontation with the United States and Israel.

They also raise the possibility that Tehran could activate dormant terrorist cells or other asymmetric capabilities inside the United States and the West – an area in which the Islamic Republic has accumulated decades of experience.

From a national security perspective, the coming phase of military operations appears to rest on four strategic objectives. The first is to cripple the regime’s already fragile governing capacity: power plants, oil refineries, electricity transmission networks, and energy hubs are not merely economic facilities – they form the backbone of command, logistics, and the continuity of state operations.

The second objective is to degrade Iran’s military sustainment capability: electricity and fuel are essential to the country’s defense industries, missile systems, maintenance facilities, and logistical supply chains, meaning the purpose is not merely to inflict economic damage but to diminish the regime’s operational military capacity.

The third objective is to increase strategic pressure on Tehran by raising the cost of continued confrontation and forcing the leadership to reconsider its political calculations rather than simply destroying physical infrastructure.

The fourth objective is regional deterrence: a multilayered campaign of this nature sends a clear message to other regional actors that attacks against the United States and its allies may carry far greater consequences than conventional military retaliation.

Trump’s broader objective appears to be compelling Tehran to surrender and return to negotiations. In my assessment, however, the ideological rigidity, fanaticism, and illusions of the Shi’ite clerical establishment make such an outcome unlikely. The regime has repeatedly demonstrated that it would rather see Iran devastated than abandon what it considers its revolutionary ideology.

The regime’s center of gravity now lies in its national electricity grid, oil refineries, fuel distribution networks, command-and-control centers, communications systems, and the institutional mechanisms that sustain the continuity of government. If these critical systems are disrupted, the consequences will extend far beyond physical destruction.

The IRGC will find it increasingly difficult to command operations across the country. Provincial control will weaken. Administrative pressure on an already bankrupt government will intensify. This is the strategic rationale behind targeting the regime’s infrastructure.

The gradual redeployment of American forces from Iraq’s Kurdistan region also carries military implications. It may reduce the vulnerability of US forces to retaliatory attacks, reposition military assets ahead of a new phase of operations, and adjust the regional force posture to better manage operational risk. From a broader strategic perspective, this shift in

Israel’s role in planning and coordinating joint operations, therefore, remains highly significant. Among the most important regional consequences of such a campaign could be the destruction of the regime’s terrorist axis and the weakening of the Shi’ite Crescent that has shaped the region’s security architecture for decades.

For 48 years, the Shi’ite clerical establishment has transformed Iran into a military garrison and an ammunition depot. In pursuit of its revolutionary ideology, it has devastated the country’s economy, plundered its national wealth, and sacrificed Iran’s development for ideological expansion.

For decades, much of the world ignored Israel’s warnings and intelligence assessments regarding the nature of the Islamic Republic. Only now has the international community begun to recognize the scale of the security challenge posed by Islamist terrorism sponsored by Tehran.

In reality, America’s wasted time negotiating with a Shi’ite Islamic Nazi terrorist regime in Iran was an insult to the intelligence of humanity in the 21st century, as well as to civilization and morality. No one shakes hands with murderers, bomb-makers, terrorists, and a religious dictatorship, nor signs a deal with them.

Meanwhile, the Middle East is paying the price for the lack of strong will in Washington, and regrettably, Israel’s hands have also been tied, even though it understands the mullahs’ playbook. What a tragedy.

Of course, the Tehran Nazi terrorist regime and its brutal military and intelligence institutions, such as the Supreme National Security Council, have threatened to carry out destructive operations in the United States and Israel. In the regime’s political lexicon, September 11 and October 7 are regarded as instruments of success for its hollow ideology, used to satisfy its radical supporters through the commission of crimes.

And let us not forget that although Iranian supreme leaders Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei are gone, their destructive and absurd ideology and way of thinking remain in the regime’s core. For the survival of the regime, its supporters are prepared to commit any crime or act of treachery.

Currently, there is no serious determination for regime change in this White House. The war against Islamist terrorism requires unwavering resolve, genuine political will, and a sufficient understanding of the threat.

The path forward is clear: only by dismantling the infrastructure that sustains the Islamic Republic can the United States and its allies force a strategic recalibration in Tehran – or precipitate the regime’s eventual collapse. Anything less will allow the mullahs to continue their decades-long campaign of terrorism, instability, and ideological expansion.

The time for half-measures has passed. The next phase of this war will determine whether the Middle East remains hostage to a dying dictatorship – or finally breaks free.