It's impossible to know whether the U.S. president will carry out his threats to strike Iran, how the regime might retaliate, or what the long-term fallout would be. What's surer is that neutering the threat posed by Iran and encouraging a better future for its people will take more than bombs and missiles.

With possible talks in flux, worries about a U.S. attack are rising.

The goal of any action, however, remains something of a mystery. Would it be to topple the regime? To degrade what's left of Iran's nuclear program and missile-making capacity? To punish the........

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