Is Obama seeking regime change in Iran
Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz think so, arguing that containment is a "regime change" strategy:
Political and economic isolation is designed to nurture Iranâ??s convulsive internal contradictions, vividly on display after the June 12, 2009, elections. The contentious issue in Iran policy isnâ??t the goalâ??â??â??do we want Khamenei and his Revolutionary Guards to fall? Democrats and Republicans differ on this far less than they did when President George W. Bush saw an â??axis of evil.â? The issue is timing: Can we put enough pressure on Khamenei and his praetorians to either crack the regime or make the supreme leader believe that the nuclear program actually threatens his rule?
I'm not sure that's correct. Let's say we achieve the second goal - convince the supreme leader that the nuclear program threatens his rule. Presumably that means that he gives the nuclear program up. At that point, American policy is satisfied. Of course, there will be plenty of neoconservatives who won't be happy until American troops liberate Tehran, but for all intents and purposes, convincing Khamenei to verifiably abandon the pursuit of a nuclear weapon would be enough for most people.
