While civilian casualties are unavoidable in any conflict, the idea here is that if the regime falls, the face of the Middle East will completely change. Just look at Iran pre-1979 and imagine what it would be today had the theocracy not mercilessly oppressed the population for half a century. Perhaps this creator should use AI to generate a video of the IRGC killing an estimated 30,000 of their own people[0].
There is a certain leap between "civilian casualties are unavoidable" and "a civilization Is going to be destroyed and sent back to the stone age through war crimes"
Trump's comments are quite obviously saber-rattling. Until now at least, the U.S. hasn't executed 30,000+ Iranians in a short period of time, and countless more over the past five decades.
Regime change isn't the real goal here, is it? Haven't followed closely, but to me it seems the goal is to just destroy Iran as a regional power, with dire consequences for its population.
Iran under the Shah was hardly a bastion of liberty:
“In a 1976 document, Amnesty International detailed some of SAVAK's torture practices and stated that the shah's regime was one of the worst human rights violators in the world.”
Some argue the excessive repression is what caused the reactionary backlash of the Islamic Revolution (which initially was also supported by liberal democratic and leftist parties as well).
This is a pointless complaint if the person who has ended up in charge is worse. There's no point in imagining what could have been. The world is dealing with what exist now.
Except that the effect here has not been to overturn the regime, but rather to put a hardliner into absolute power while also murdering his entire family in the middle of diplomatic negotations. And then murdering plenty of innocent people, like that school full of literal children, to ensure that the country rallies around him.
The only thing any of that has to do with the US is that the US backed that theocracy! We cannot unilaterally violate all international law and sovereignty without Congress and our allies… that’s obvious though so what are you talking about?
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_massacres