Why the US attack on Iran is unlikely to produce regime change in Tehran

After the largest buildup of warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades, American and Israeli military forces launched a massive assault on Iran on Feb. 28, 2026. President Donald Trump has called the attacks “operations” and has urged regime change in Tehran.To better understand what this means for the U.S. and Iran, Alfonso Serrano, a U.S. politics editor at The Conversation, interviewed Donald Heflin, a veteran diplomat who now teaches at Tufts University’s Fletcher