The lesson appears clear. In order to WIN Wars you do need a full fledged effort without quislings backstabbing you.

 

That's not a dichotomy. It's a false dichotomy

 

True. Their one plan was for the Iranian people to rise up after the bombs started dropping. They had no plan B. It’s abundantly clear they have no idea how to extricate ourselves from this mess.

 

It is if you believe a country run by terrorists would legitimately give up their desire to have them, yes.

 

Well when you start obliterating countries run by bad actors because they could potentially be developing nukes you kind of show the world the importance of having nukes to keep from being obliterated. Every one of these strikes breeds new terrorists everyday. There is more than one dichotomy at play here, especially when you consider we are the only country that has ever used nuclear weapons against another country.

 

I recently read a piece in Foreign Affairs about what a peace agreement with Iran would look like.
It naturally had some comments on the 2015 JCPOA.

The author essentially stated that for some factions of American political actors, and the administration that came to power in 2017, there wasn't (and isn't) much that Iran can do.
Giving up 98% of their enriched uranium.Destroying most of their centrifuges. Complying with inspections. Etc.
Wasn't enough.
Negotiating with people whom will not take "yes" for an answer is an impossibility.

in short, complying with the agreement which achieved the goals that were stated in last years 12 day war and have belatedly surfaced in the current war was and is not enough for some in both America and Israel.

JCPOA wasn't a pipe dream. It likely achieved as good an outcome as reasonable people could expect. No nuclear weapons or enrichment for 10 years. A chance for Iran to rejoin the international community, which would be the basis of any lasting peace.
(as a side note, the failure of Russia to integrate into the world order is a major reason why Russia is at war in Ukraine. The achievement of China being integrated into the world's rules based order is a major reason why China ISN'T at war with us or its neighbors)

Your post essentially states that Iran can never be allowed to say "yes".

 

Sounds like you're talking about Israel, since they have been the primary destabilizing agent in the Middle East for the last 20 years

 

No, my post says that Iranian regime will never give up its nuclear ambitions. The only thing that negotiating with them does is allow them more time to do the inevitable.

They have no desire to join a world that they largely detest.

 

Hmm I wonder how Iran gained its nuclear expertise to begin with:

"Iran's nuclear ambitions began under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, with support from the United States and Western Europe. In 1957, Iran and the US signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement as part of President Dwight Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program. This led to the construction of Iran's first nuclear research facility at Tehran. In November 1967, the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) went critical – a 5 megawatt (thermal) light-water reactor, which initially ran on highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel at 93% U-235, provided by the US."

Why is the current regime so hostile to America? Oh right, because America enabled political terrorism by the Shah's secret police:

"According to a declassified CIA memo citing a classified U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, the CIA played a significant role in establishing SAVAK, providing both funding and training.[7] The organization became notorious for its extensive surveillance, repression, and torture of political dissidents. The Shah used SAVAK to arrest, imprison, exile, and torture his opponents, leading to widespread public resentment."

And how do we fix the past mistakes of American intervention?

More intervention of course! More regime change! It will definitely work this time. We need to go to war in the middle east because of the threat of WMDs. It'll go great

 

If so, success in that regard will definitely assure their goal. Because whatever world they may exist in, won’t be this one.