This article originally appeared at JNS on May 6, 2025.
If the United States and its allies are serious about preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, then one reality must be faced head-on: Dismantling the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is not enough. To secure a lasting peace and prevent Tehran from rearming, the regime itself must be removed. Only then can the threat be permanently neutralized, and only then can the Iranian people begin the long-overdue process of rebuilding their country.
America has already demonstrated its ineffectiveness at nation-building in places like Iraq and Afghanistan—countries that, while sharing some cultural and religious similarities with Iran, are far less complex civilizations. With its ancient history and uniquely sophisticated culture, Iran presents an even greater challenge. If U.S.-led reconstruction efforts failed elsewhere, why would they succeed in Iran?
The United States should abandon any notion of managing Iran’s internal recovery and instead focus on two achievable objectives: eradicating Iran’s nuclear program; and removing the fanatically anti-Western, anti-non-Muslim regime from power. Both goals are feasible and essential.
Destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities alone won’t stop the threat posed by the Islamic Regime. Steeped in regional strategies of endurance and deception, the regime would simply wait for the political tides to shift in Washington or Jerusalem. Then, under more favorable circumstances, it would restart its nuclear-weapons program, perhaps more clandestinely but no less determined. That’s why removing the regime is not a supplementary option but a prerequisite.
Some argue that removing the regime might unleash even more radical forces; evidence from inside Iran suggests otherwise. Time and again, when cracks in the regime’s power appear, Iranians pour into the streets in protest. These demonstrations are only crushed when the state reasserts its control through brutal force. The people cannot stand up to this machine on their own. But when the regime shows signs of weakness, the public responds with courage and hope.
So, what do the Iranian people want? All available signs indicate a desire to reintegrate into the international community; redirect resources from terrorism and repression to domestic development; and normalize relations, especially with the United States and Israel. These signals may not always be loud, but they are unmistakable to those who understand Iranian culture.
Iranian dissent is subtle but persistent. Women, the most revolutionary force in the Middle East, push boundaries daily, letting a sliver of hair escape from under their mandated hijabs. Celebrations of Nowruz, Iran’s pre-Islamic New Year, grow more open and spirited. Once central to public life, mosques sit empty as people protest through their absence. Private prayer is replacing public obedience.
More telling still is the underground rise of Christianity in an overwhelmingly Muslim country—an act that risks death under Islamic law. Yet the regime cannot stop it. Younger Iranians increasingly embrace American English idioms, signaling a rejection of the regime’s enforced cultural norms and a longing for Western connection.
Having witnessed the Islamic Revolution firsthand as a university student in Iran back in 1978, I recognize familiar patterns. As before, public anger simmers beneath the surface. When Israel previously struck Iranian targets, some Iranians took to the streets—not in protest, but in support—spray-painting walls with messages like “Strike! Strike! And we will rise.”
If the United States and Israel genuinely wish to stop Iran from going nuclear, they must act decisively. Half-measures won’t work. Without a regime change, the mullahs will wait patiently for more favorable conditions to rebuild their weapons program. This is the traditional Iranian strategy: wait, watch and strike when the time is right.
This leaves us with one option—simultaneously eradicate the nuclear program and remove the regime from power.
But we must not repeat past mistakes. Nation-building is not a Western strength, certainly not in the Muslim world. The United States and Israeli establishments have repeatedly failed to understand the region’s complexities, as the tragic misjudgments around the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, made clear.
We should therefore leave the rebuilding of Iran to the Iranians themselves. All signs suggest that they are eager to reclaim their place in the global community, to invest in their nation’s future, and to live in peace. Most Iranians want to use their country’s vast resources to rebuild rather than to export terror. They seek normalcy, prosperity and freedom.
We can help them achieve this by ending the nuclear threat, removing the regime and stepping aside. Let the Iranian people build the Iran they deserve.
