For subscribers
America’s attack on Iran turns a taboo into a method
It is rare for air power alone to bring about regime change.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Public mourning for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. US and Israeli air power may have felled Iran's top leader, but it is a blunt instrument for political transformation, says the writer.
PHOTO : AFP
Steven Simon
America’s long-running quarrel with the Islamic Republic has become a war. On Feb 28, the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes across Iran; the regime in Tehran responded with missiles across the region; and President Donald Trump urged Iranians to “take over” their government – nudging the declared aim from nuclear restraint towards regime change.
Yet the real threshold had been crossed earlier. In June 2025, Operation Midnight Hammer sent B-2 bombers and Tomahawk missiles into Iran’s main nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, ending half a century of American reluctance to strike directly at Iran’s strategic core. That campaign broke a taboo that had been in effect for decades despite bloody Iranian-sponsored attacks against Americans in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. This one has turned a broken taboo into a method for a new era.
