“Some have called for a regime change in Iran. Though a change is unlikely to happen by itself, should [US] President Donald Trump push for one, he would be making a grave mistake,” writes Narges Bajoghli, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, in a piece for Time.

“It is not the first time that foreign powers have imagined Iran as a crumbling house—one that only needs a gentle push, or a series of airstrikes, before it falls into new hands.

“But Iran is not Syria, Libya, or Iraq. If President Trump joins the war on Iran and commits the United States to removing the Iranian regime, the results will likely be more catastrophic than the 2003 war on Iraq,” Bajoghli said.

“The war with Iraq scarred Iran, however, it taught the country that survival does not require parity but endurance.”

“In the decades since, the Iranian state has reorganised itself not for peace, but for siege. Its military doctrine is not built for conquest but for resistance. Iran won’t simply absorb aerial bombardment or shrug off sabotage.”