Finish the Job: Leaving Iran’s Regime in Place Guarantees Endless Regional Instability

by Majid Rafizadeh  •  Gatestone Institute  •  March 28, 2026

This is the moment when the United States and Israel could make greatest strategic mistake in the Iran war: stopping halfway while leaving “moderate” extremists still in place. Pictured: Iran holds state funeral for IRGC spokesman in Tehran. Screengrab via Youtube

• This is precisely the moment when the greatest strategic mistake could be made: stopping halfway while leaving “moderate” extremists still in place.

• If left intact, the regime will almost certainly, at some point — after the Trump administration’s term ends — accelerate its most ambitious and dangerous projects, most notably its pursuit of nuclear weapons along with ballistic missiles to deliver them.
• Now, faced with intensified pressure and internal fragility, the regime has, as usual, apparently signaled a willingness to negotiate. It may even agree to sweeping terms – say “yes” to anything — not because of any positive transformation but as a tactic for survival.
• A ceasefire deal now would not resolve the underlying problem — it would freeze it in place temporarily while allowing the regime to recover. Once stabilized, it would resume its activities — with the same less-than-neighborly objectives.
• Any agreement with this regime, or what is left of it, will almost certainly end up undoing the very gains that the US and Israel have achieved.
• The choice, therefore, is between finishing what has been started or once again facing the same reality just around the bend.

Only two countries, the United States and Israel, have finally confronted a regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which, for nearly half a century, has held the world hostage and destabilized an entire region, all while brutally tormenting its own people.

Iran’s ruling system has built its identity on ideology — an expansionist doctrine rooted in “exporting the revolution,” undermining and attacking sovereign states, and financing terrorist proxies. From Hezbollah in Lebanon, to Hamas in Gaza, to the Houthis in Yemen, to the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, to terrorist cells in Latin America, the regime has poured billions into non-state actors that perpetuate cycles of violence, weaken governments, and terrorize civilians. At home, it has maintained power through repression, torture, censorship and force.

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