Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a televised message, after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

President Trump made the correct and courageous decision to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, in an effort to ensure that the Islamic Republic will never have a nuclear weapon. But the only way to end Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions for good is to end Iran’s Islamist regime, which would not only end the current war, but the Iranian threat to the free world once and for all.

As long as the ayatollahs remain in power, they will continue to pursue nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, rebuilding from the ground up if they have to. In other words, destroying Iran’s nuclear program, but not its Islamist regime, would just be kicking the can down the road.

Aside from its nuclear aspirations, the Islamic Republic has been the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world for many years. Although Israel has weakened Iranian proxies, particularly Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, they have not destroyed them. Iranian-backed terrorism will continue to fester as long as the Islamist regime that sponsors it remains in power.

A new regime in Iran is also the only way to ensure a better future for the Iranian people, who have been relentlessly suffering under the boot of the ayatollahs for 46 years. Western media outlets often talk about “reformers” in Iran, who supposedly want to loosen the restrictions that govern the Islamic theocracy. But these “reformers” simply want to put lipstick on Iran’s brutal dictatorship, not abolish it. Only the destruction of the Islamic Republic will ensure that Iranians have a chance at a better future — one in which they can enjoy human rights and economic prosperity.

The fall of the Islamic Republic will not only mean a better future for Iran, but for the entire Middle East. With Iran’s Islamist regime gone, other states in the region will no longer have to fear Iranian hegemony and violence, and will be much less likely to develop weapons of mass destruction of their own to counter the Iranian threat. Countries like Lebanon and Yemen, which are now unwilling hosts to Iranian proxy terrorist groups, will no longer be under the undue influence of these proxies. The US won’t have to spend billions on military measures designed to counter Iran. The Middle East could very well enter a golden age of prosperity.

Understandably, President Trump and other world leaders are apprehensive about pushing for regime change in Iran, having seen the chaos and bloodshed that ensued after the overthrow of the dictatorships in Libya and Iraq. Indeed, Trump recently argued that regime change in Iran would lead to chaos. But of course, change is often impossible without chaos. If people refrained from pushing for change because it could potentially cause chaos, our world as we know it wouldn’t exist.

What if, for example, the Founding Fathers of the United States decided not to fight for freedom against the British because they figured it would be too chaotic? Furthermore, should we condemn the Iranian people to continue living under a brutal Islamist dictatorship just because bringing an end to that dictatorship could cause chaos? I certainly hope not.

In fact, according to a recent article in The Jerusalem Post, many Iranians are upset that the US and Israel stopped attacking Iran in favor of a ceasefire. This shouldn’t be surprising, because after the ceasefire went into force, the ayatollahs began a brutal crackdown, arresting hundreds and reportedly ramping up executions.

President Trump has shown how committed he is to making peace in the Middle East, having managed to negotiate the Abraham Accords in his first term and striving to expand the accords in his second stint as President. But I’m sure Trump knows that true peace in the region won’t be possible if the Islamist regime in Iran stays in power. Therefore, it is incumbent upon him and other world leaders who care about peace in the Middle East to do what they can to help the Iranians overthrow their evil rulers. I’m certainly not advocating for American boots on the ground. Rather, the US and its allies should help the Iranian people bring the mullahs’ regime to an end on their own.

During World War II, the Allied Powers didn’t strive to just weaken the Nazi regime in Germany. They sought to destroy that regime and its genocidal ideology. In the same respect, Israel, the US and their allies should endeavor, not just to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program and weaken the ayatollahs’ regime, but to destroy that regime and its tyrannical, murderous ideology once and for all.

Jason Shvili is a freelance writer and commentator on Jewish affairs, Israel and the Middle East.