The goal of the neocons is regime change in Iran. John Bolton and Michael Ledeen have made this crystal clear. John McCain is explicit on this. Saudi Arabia would welcome regime change in Iran. At a minimum, Israel wants to prevent Iran from becoming a regional superpower; Iranian regime change would accomplish that. Calls for regime change in Iran are common among neocons.
Trump psychologically is just as capable of confronting Iran militarily as he is of bombing Syria, given some sort of flimsy excuse. He said as much last year. He has selected advisors who are strongly against the current Iranian form of government.
Any strategies to achieve regime change in Iran must deal with Syria, and that means confronting Iran and Russia who both have forces in Syria.
Trump, like his predecessors, is surrounded by people advocating the neocon goal of regime change. Ron Paul recognized this last December, and he recognized that Trump’s non-interventionist rhetoric was likely to give way to interventions, of which there are many kinds.
There is virtually no question that Trump is going to confront both Syria and Iran and attempt to achieve the neocon goal of regime change in Iran. This leaves unanswered a broad swath of questions. Do explicit plans exist to achieve this goal? What anti-interventionist voices are there in Washington that might influence such a policy? What will be Trump’s strategies? What will be the means? How much is Trump committed to such a goal? How far will he go? How will Iran, Syria and Russia respond?
8:41 am on April 7, 2017
