Israel’s stated aim in its war with Iran was to “eliminate” the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. And at this point, this is the only goal that President Trump officially espouses now after U.S. strikes have taken place.

And that goal may satisfy the military side of the ledger. But politically, the confrontation ends only with the regime’s collapse. It is critical that Americans understand why and resolve to embrace the menu of non-military policy options available to them to effect this outcome.

The joint operation may have delayed Iran’s nuclear program by years, yet airstrikes will never eliminate the regime’s nuclear aspirations. The Islamic Republic will rebuild its program, which it views not as a bargaining chip, but rather as the insurance policy of an ideologically driven elite that believes survival hinges on the strategic immunity that a nuclear weapon provides.

This conviction cannot be negotiated out of them, no matter how comforting it is for Westerners to pretend otherwise. Indeed, every previous cycle of sanctions, secret enrichment, incremental deals, and breakout has ended in the same place: with the regime richer and closer to a bomb, and the rest of the world more fatigued.

Until the Israeli operation, this cycle appeared to be on a repeat loop. Only 24 hours before it started, Omani mediators and Trump himself, were still touting a sixth U.S.-Iran meeting in Muscat for the following Sunday. By dawn Friday, the negotiating table had been overturned by Israeli missiles enforcing Trump’s 60-day deadline.

Meanwhile, the regime’s social foundations have been eroding. Official figures put year-on-year inflation at around 40 percent, and the rial has slid to almost 900,000 per dollar in the

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