The consensus is clear. President Donald Trump, the pundits say, has trapped himself in a pointless war in Iran. He is, we are told, thrashing about blindly and blaming everyone but himself. At least Israel has war aims, even if they differ from America’s. The United States, by contrast, is shooting in the dark.

I would amend that narrative in only one way. There was a war aim. The problem is that it has failed. The original goal, which Israel, the Arab world, Britain, Europe, and pretty much everyone else except Russia and China could get behind, was to replace the ayatollahs’ terrorist regime with something more peaceful and more democratic.

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In January, when Iran was rocked by the most intense protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, regime change seemed to be within touching distance. Trump told the Iranians that help was on its way, the exiled crown prince announced that he was ready to oversee a transition,........

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