One month after the war with Iran, one conclusion is clearer than anything stated in all the news briefings: neither the United States nor Israel entered this confrontation with a plan for a prolonged conflict.
This operation was designed as a brief and brutal event—a shock campaign intended to break Iran's will, forcing Tehran back to the negotiating table under humiliating conditions, or, in the most ambitious fantasies circulating within Trump’s political circle, triggering internal collapse and possibly even regime change.
Israel’s objectives were somewhat different, yet complementary. It aimed to inflict maximum possible damage on Iran’s military and strategic infrastructure, weakening it for years to come, and reshaping regional power balances through force. However, during the first month of fighting, the central assumptions underlying both approaches began to crumble. Iran did not submit or yield to coercive demands; instead, it resisted like a nation fighting for its survival.
American planners seemed to envision a limited punitive campaign lasting perhaps one or two weeks. Its logic was familiar and, from their perspective, elegant: deliver a fierce strike, instill fear, disrupt command structures, raise economic costs, and create a moment when Iranian leaders faced a difficult choice between capitulation or catastrophe.
Some in the Trump camp appeared to believe that Iran’s political system was fragile enough under pressure to collapse. Now, that assumption seems less like a prediction and more like a strategy. Washington entered the war expecting swift dominance rather than a prolonged endurance test.
Israel’s strategy was not primarily about engaging in strong negotiations with Tehran, but rather using U.S.-backed offensive operations as cover to strike Iran as hard as possible, pushing it back militarily, technologically, and geopolitically. In this sense, Israel’s goals were harsher and more specific.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1861055014202379/
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