The America-First Case for Iranian Regime Change
A free, secular, pro-western Iran is good for the whole world. It would also end much of the turmoil that keeps American forces perpetually in the Middle East.
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NOTE: My friend Mike Phillips is a first-rate mind across a wide range of topics, and it is a joy to bring his writing to The Rod Martin Report.
Also, be sure to see my short video update on the Iran situation. — RDM
by Mike Phillips
February 17, 2026
Regime change in Iran is a clear America First policy: only the means are debatable. The notion that America can allow a regime sworn to its destruction to survive for decades more — always being deterred and never figuring out how to achieve its aims — is suicidal hubris.
Let’s examine the reasons why regime change in Iran places America first, and why it is dangerous and derelict to miss this moment.
1. Iran’s Main Goal is Death to America and the Shiitification of the Planet
As Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei has repeatedly proclaimed, “Death to America is not a slogan: it is policy.” And as the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini explained, eve…
