As the bombing intensifies, the debate about Iran is missing the real point

Mar 9, 2026 | 12:05 IST

File photo of Mojtaba Khamenei, second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

As Washington weighs succession scenarios and Tehran trades missiles, the central question goes largely unasked: can Iran change without dismantling the clerical system that holds ultimate power? Until that is confronted, talk of regime change is theatre, at best hollow

Ten days into the escalating US-Israeli bombing of Iran and the latter's retaliatory attacks, there is still no clarity about American aims beyond a limited regime change – or, for that matter, Tehran's strategy to find a way out of the current impasse amid its increasing international isolation.

Even major allies like Russia and China appear hesitant to go the whole hog to support it. India took nearly a week to break its silence — which was only following widespread criticism of its handling of the sinking of an Iranian ship in the Indian Ocean by a US submarine.

TOI

TOI

As the bombing intensifies, the debate about Iran is missing the real point

As Washington weighs succession scenarios and Tehran trades missiles, the central question goes largely unasked: can Iran change without dismantling the clerical system that holds ultimate power? Until that is confronted, talk of regime change is theatre, at best hollow

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TOI

As the bombing intensifies, the debate about Iran is missing the real point

As Washington weighs succession scenarios and Tehran trades missiles, the central question goes largely unasked: can Iran change without dismantling the clerical system that holds ultimate power? Until that is confronted, talk of regime change is theatre, at best hollow

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