As Trump signals retreat from war, Israel may have to keep fighting Iranian threat

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-trump-signals-retreat-from-war-israel-may-have-to-keep-fighting-iranian-threat/

The US, for its part, seems uninterested in bringing the Islamic Republic down. Worryingly for Israel, Trump argues — in an entirely novel definition of the term — that regime change has already been secured since Iran’s senior leadership has been wiped out.

Israel’s goal of removing Iran’s ability to pose a threat likely cannot be achieved without regime change, Israel’s ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter said on the What the Hell is Going on? podcast Monday.

The purpose of the campaign, he said, “is to make sure that we don’t have a power, an entity in Tehran, which is developing nuclear weapons, is developing weapons of mass destruction in terms of these ballistic missiles, and is supporting proxies around the region. That’s what we’re focused on.”

“Now, if that can be done without regime change, okay. Probably can’t, though,” he added.

Israel, it seems, is making plans for the distinct possibility that Trump moves on from the war and the Iranian regime survives. It will then be facing a much-weakened Islamic Republic, but one that still commands massive resources to pour into rebuilding and still has armed proxies ready to do its bidding.

The military campaign, in that case, may then be over, but the war will be far from its end.