Donald Trump, president of the United States, meet Pyrrhus, king of Epirus.
Knowing what comes next in Operation Epic Fury is better understood by grasping the evolution of Iran’s military structure and capabilities.
Several people on the list are deeply embedded in Iran’s political, intelligence and security architecture.
More than 20 years after the US military success in Iraq, the outcome of the US effort at regime change wasn’t as expected, and authoritarians with close ties to Iran now rule the country.
This is the moment when total war meets the fog of war.
A covert US campaign in the mid-20th century helped steer Iran toward the intense anti-American sentiment that has distinguished its government policy for decades.
As US bombing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have shown, destruction is not the same as political success.
The latest attack on Iran goes far beyond previous operations by Israel and the US in both scale and scope. Tehran will likely lean on unconventional warfare as well as its missile stockpile.