The U.S. has hit hundreds of targets in Iran since the launch of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, and President Donald Trump says the U.S. will not accept anything less than “unconditional surrender” from Iran. While recent polling shows significant support for the operation, some Americans fear another “forever war” in the Middle East.

Fear over an extended conflict with Iran and its proxies, such as Hezbollah, is driven, at least in part, by the words “regime change,” Natalie Ecanow, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, explains.

“Obviously, we would like to see regime change as an outcome of the current American and Israeli operation in Iran. As far as I know, and as far as I understand, that is not a stated objective of our campaign,” Ecanow says.

U.S. actions in Iran, according to the White House, remain focused on eliminating the nuclear and missile threat Iran poses to the U.S. and its allies, a mission that reasonably falls in line with Trump’s “America First” agenda.

“We can throw the door open to regime change. We can support regime change, but we’re not going in and doing the regime change ourselves,” Ecanow says on the “Problematic Women” podcast. “I think that’s a very important distinction to be made when it comes to that argument … about dragging us into another ‘forever war,’ doing another Iraq, etc. It’s really important to understand that the objectives of Operation Epic Fury are mostly military. They don’t really have to do with changing domestic politics in Iran.”

Ecanow joins the show to discuss the nuclear threat Iran has posed to the United States and breaks down the reasons why she believes the operation is in line with the “America First” agenda.

Also on today’s show, we discuss the feminist movement’s response, or lack of response, to the Iranian regime, which, as the European Union reports, has been responsible for the deaths of more women than any other nation in the world.

Trump Says Iran Must 'Unconditionally Surrender' to US President Donald Trump says the only deal he will accept with Iran is “unconditionally surrender” to the United States. 

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