Peloni: What will happen after Trump leaves office will be determined in no small way by what he accomplishes before leaving office, and the declaration of Economic D-Day is already having an effect on the regime but this effect will be waning if that declaration fails to be implemented against Iran’s greatest allies, not the least of which is China. So we will see.
What Happens After President Trump Leaves Office?
by Majid Rafizadeh • Gatestone Institute • August 29, 2026
In the ideology of Iran’s ruling establishment, nuclear weapons are still openly contemplated not just as a deterrent but as instruments of mass destruction. If an extremist regime acquires a nuclear weapon, the question is: What happens afterwards? The regime’s character — Islamist, anti-Western, any American and expansionist — has not changed. If Western powers are truly serious, they must work to completely eliminate Iran’s present regime. Pictured: Crowds gather for the funeral procession of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in Mashhad, on July 9, 2026. Screengrab via Youtube.
- “The only way to save the country… is building an atomic bomb and firing it, no other way is left for us. We should create a tsunami whose waves hit the American coasts.” — Iranian cleric Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi, secretary-general of Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, and closely tied to Iran’s current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei
- The real question needs to be: What happens after Trump leaves office?
- The regime’s character — Islamist, anti-Western, any American and expansionist — has not changed. If Western powers are truly serious, they must work to completely eliminate Iran’s present regime.
- Recent developments show the danger of permitting recovery. Iran’s army is claiming that weapons systems damaged in the 2026 war have already been “rebuilt” — either domestically or after having been imported, and with a shift toward offensive capabilities. Satellite imagery and intelligence assessments reveal rapid reconstruction of missile bases, tunnel entrances, production facilities, and infrastructure — faster than many anticipated. Israeli officials have expressed surprise at the speed of recovery in ballistic missile capabilities. Leaving these arsenals in place would simply make further military efforts more dangerous both for US bases and allies in the Gulf. Any rebuilding of Iran’s military infrastructure must be disrupted; leaders driving this belligerency need to be removed from power.
- Economic isolation also remains critical, as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has laid out, complete with universally enforced secondary sanctions. The European Union should close remaining diplomatic and commercial channels that provide legitimacy or revenue.
- The West should not have to wait for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon — when it would be impossible to stop, which is why the regime wants one — before taking Iran’s threats seriously. The war with the Iranian regime — to contradict those who claim it was a war of choice – is anything but that. Iran, China and Russia have been trying to take down Western civilization for decades. Only Trump had the vision and the determination to take on these threats.
- For both US and international security, it is obligatory for the world’s leading superpower, the United States of America, to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and to protect countless lives. Iran’s regime must not be allowed to rebuild its military or remain in power. Every available measure needs to be pursued until the Islamic Republic of Iran is totally dismantled. For decades, half-measures have failed.
- The alternative is for the West’s nuclear-capable adversaries — whose “only solution” will assuredly put the world at risk — to succeed in their mission.
For anyone who has ever harbored doubts—and for those who still do—that Iran’s regime stands against humanity, peace, and the basic norms of civilization, the latest remarks from hard-line Iranian cleric Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi — secretary-general of Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, and closely tied to the current Supreme Leader — should be impossible to ignore. “The only way to save the country… is building an atomic bomb and firing it,” Kharrazi recently declared, “no other way is left for us…. We should create a tsunami whose waves hit the American coasts”.
In the ideology of Iran’s ruling establishment, nuclear weapons are still openly contemplated not just as a deterrent but as instruments of mass destruction. If an extremist regime acquires a nuclear weapon, the question is: What happens afterwards?
It will be utterly ironic if the whole concept of N-deterrence that has kept most of the secular World’s peace breaks down over a bunch of Moslem fundamentalists who truly beieve theyare going ot paradise.
This is where Trump is missing out not just on school work – that Iran is a natural fortress but also on his undoubted ability at being street wise – that a person is NOT beaten till he himself throws in the towel with exhaustion.
If there is to be a “Nuclear exchange” then the priority after the N-faciilties is the religious idolatry of the regime : the Jamkaran Mosque outside Qom, Mashad similar, and Kerbala and Najaf. If necessary Mecca and Medina too so that the Moslem World joins the club [and moves on] of those whose major shrines have been stolen – mostly by Moslems: Aghia Sophia, Temple Mount and Ayodha.
There are better things to do in eradicating chronic diseases and famine risks and finding non fossil energy than to waste efforts imposing religious ideas that are not convokable to a witness box nor analytical on a lab bench.