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As the conflict in Iran stretches into its fourth day and threatens to spill over into the wider region, the staggering financial and strategic costs the U.S. is incurring to finance its military efforts are colliding with a sobering admission from the Oval Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since military strikes targeting Iran\u2019s leadership began on Saturday, the Trump administration has provided several explanations to justify its campaign, although has refrained from explicitly mentioning a change in leadership as a clear-cut goal\u2014despite its outcome so far effectively amounting to a decapitation. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump claimed initial strikes had killed as many as 48 members of Iran\u2019s leadership, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a so-called \u2018regime change war\u2019, but the regime sure did change,\u201d Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during public remarks Monday.<\/p>\n
But for Trump, the attack\u2019s sweeping scale has also been accompanied by a lack of clarity as to what comes next, specifically to plug a gaping leadership vacuum without risking a reversion to Khamenei\u2019s dictatorial rule. It\u2019s a challenge of which even Trump is painfully aware.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst case would be we do this and then somebody takes over who\u2019s as bad as the previous person,\u201d Trump said during public remarks Tuesday, outlining a worst-case scenario that might mirror the very instability the military operation was ostensibly designed to resolve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would probably be the worst. You go through this, and then, in five years, you realize you put somebody in who was no better,\u201d Trump stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s candid assessment came as voices in the U.S. and abroad criticize the administration for its apparent lack of a plan on how to resolve Iran\u2019s leadership program. Those questions have become especially pointed as estimates of the war\u2019s cost are released. Kent Smetters, director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, recently told Fortune<\/em> the total economic toll on the U.S. could reach as high as $210 billion. This figure accounts for direct military expenditures\u2014estimated at up to $95 billion\u2014alongside massive disruptions to trade, energy markets, and financial conditions around the globe.\u00a0<\/p>\n U.S. involvement in Iran might change in scale. For one, its campaign could soon run out of munitions for key weapons, but the war\u2019s price tag could rise the longer it lasts and if it eventually involves more factions and belligerents from elsewhere in the region. Prolonged disruption affecting oil and gas production in the Middle East could lead to higher inflation and slower economic growth worldwide, Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz\u2019s chief economic advisor, warned this week.<\/p>\n The lack of a clear succession plan in Iran is part of what has many Americans concerned about U.S. involvement in another potential \u201cforever\u201d war in the Middle East. A Reuters\/Ipsos poll shows 43% of Americans disapprove of the war. A CBS survey conducted on Monday and Tuesday also found 62% of Americans do not think the Trump administration has yet to fully explain what the U.S. military goals are in Iran.<\/p>\n The absence of an endgame has also alarmed lawmakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re going to break all the china and you guys decide how to put it back together,\u201d Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Sunday. And Tuesday, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), called the administration\u2019s approach \u201cincredibly costly\u201d while speaking to Fox News<\/em>.<\/p>\n The economic fallout is already being felt globally. Gas prices across the U.S. jumped $0.11 overnight on Tuesday. While Trump insisted Tuesday oil prices would eventually drop \u201clower than even before,\u201d the immediate reality is one of mounting uncertainty and geopolitical friction. Allies including Spain and the U.K. refused to participate in the initial strikes, with Spain\u2019s President Pedro S\u00e1nchez declaring the war a violation of international law, prompting Trump to respond by threatening to cut off trade with the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Trump has called on the Iranian people to \u201ctake over\u201d their government, his administration has offered no support to the civil-society who might build a rule-of-law society, Atlantic <\/em>reporter Anne Applebaum wrote over the weekend. She warned the vacuum left by the attacks might be filled by breakaway groups within the Revolutionary Guard or other fanatical factions. She also noted how some of the Trump administration\u2019s actions over the past year, including funding cuts to international broadcaster Voice of America\u2014which previously provided daily news service in Persian servicing citizens of authoritarian regimes like Iran\u2019s\u2014had set up more obstacles to Iran\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Iran #war #lead #Khamenei #replaced #Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the conflict in Iran stretc… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[486,6466,14764,508,1136,364,2695,3280,599,1144],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}An unfavorable audience<\/h2>\n