The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change

The conflict affirms the Islamic Republic’s longtime belief that the U.S. seeks nothing short of its overthrow. Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. Wars don’t just end. They get interpreted, reinterpreted, and turned into strategic doctrine. That is what happened after the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, a conflict that saw the United States back Tehran’s Iraqi adversaries. The war taught Tehran three lessons it never unlearned: that Washington wants the Islamic Republic gone, that Iran stands essentially alone in the world, and that it cannot survive a direct, overt fight with the U.S. and Israel. Ross Harrison is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and author of the new book Decoding Iran’s Foreign Policy: Strategic Interests, Power and Influence. More We Think You’d Like