The Case for Regime Change Is Nonsense

Pursuing regime change in Iran is wrong and the U.S. shouldn’t do it.

Seth Cropsey wants to give regime change in the Middle East another try:

The Iranian regime will remain a threat to America until different leaders occupy Tehran. If Mr. Trump leaves the clerics in charge, the U.S. will eventually have to deal with an even worse conflict—as it did in Iraq.

Cropsey’s argument is the usual mix of hawkish fantasy, imperial hubris, and wishful thinking. He wants the U.S. to “eliminate” the regime in Iran, but leaves out most of the pesky details as to how that might be accomplished. He conjures up a “threat to America” that exists only in the minds of Iran hawks to justify massive interference in the internal affairs of another country. He takes for granted that a successor regime would be more pliable and cooperative when all of the evidence suggests the next regime would likely be even more hardline.