Trump has no 'game plan' for Iran as conflict may last 'much longer' than thought: analyst

Donald Trump's administration has yet to show they have a long-term plan for Iran after a flurry of weekend strikes, a political analyst has warned.

Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow and Iran specialist at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told The Guardian there is no sign of a longer-term thought process behind the strikes orchestrated by the US military. Trump confirmed the strikes in a Truth Social post, with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed dead after the strikes.

But Vatanka says the toppling of Khamenei's regime is short-sighted and that a longer-term project from the Trump admin may come to light.

He said, "If the administration has a game plan, they have yet to reveal it, frankly. He’s going to have to move in the direction of a bigger political project, which isn’t just the military part, but a deeper conversation in his administration about what sort of regime change they could bring about.

"Then it’s not going to be a campaign of four days or four weeks or even four months. It could be something much longer." Further analysis from columnist Robert Tait suggested the president is "under pressure" to present his vision of a long-term future for Iran.

Steven Cash, a former CIA operations officer and now head of the Steady State, told Tait it is "very troubling" that the Trump admin does not have a "what's next" plan ready for action.

Cash added, "One of the things that we have certainly learned from everything from the Korean war through the cold war, through Vietnam and certainly in Iraq and Afghanistan, is it’s not enough to start a war, you need to have a plan to end a war."

Vatanka added that Trump could still be trying to broker a peace deal with the current regime while also sounding out options for a replacement.

He said, "If he wanted regime change, there are plenty of opposition figures he can bring to the White House and say, ‘This guy is going to be the next ruling leader in Iran’. He doesn’t do that, which leaves us thinking, maybe he’s still thinking to [make a deal with] same regime."