If the regime can’t be dislodged by force, maybe it can be bribed.

US entered war with maximalist goals and exits it with pragmatic decision to end conflict despite political cost

Pragmatic settlement exposes limits of US leverage after brief, costly confrontation

US President Donald Trump jumbled his justification to launch the war on Iran, whose nuclear programme he claimed was already obliterated in a June 2025 attack.

If the regime can’t be dislodged by force, maybe it can be bribed.

If Tehran emerges from this crisis with greater leverage than it possessed before, the lesson will not be that aggression fails.