War requires two combatants, and while Iran is firing missiles back at Israel, this is an exceedingly one-sided conflict currently. In fact, the one-sidedness of it is so overwhelming that the regime of Iran's mullahs has been entirely discredited. Regime change is now the expected outcome, and with it, a new Middle East.

October 7, 2023, will go down in infamy for Hamas's brutality and also the harbinger of Iran's downfall. The Iranian Islamic State set out to destroy Israel through terrorist proxies in ways it had done countless times throughout the last few decades. But they are wholly unaware of how much the world has changed.

The Iranians got used to dealing with Barack Obama and Joe Biden. With those two, there were sympathetic ears they could bend. The Obama international brain trust, led by dim lightbulbs like Ben Rhodes, wanted to build up Iran as a counterweight to Israel and the Middle East.

They forgot that Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the rest had a say in this, too. Iran believed it could attack Israel and settle back into negotiations while working towards a nuclear weapon. But they overreached.

Iran was smart enough to realize Donald Trump was a threat. The Department of Justice arrested Iranian assets in the United States trying to carry out "murder-for-hire" plots against Donald Trump. One of those threats involved the very real threat of Iranian missiles destroying Trump's plane in the sky - a threat that required him to divide campaign staff.

Iran had killed American soldiers, launched the attacks on October 7 through Hamas, and directed attacks through the Houthis. But they feared Donald Trump and sought to kill him, too. That shifted the threat for Trump from one that was foreign to an entirely personal threat.

Iran never had to answer for butchering Americans and Jews under Biden or Obama. They have had to do so under the Trump administration. In his first term, they were crippled by sanctions that nearly brought them to their knees. Biden lifted them and saved the regime. Trump returns, and within five months, he's letting Israel work over the Mullahs like a near-dead punching bag.

The Middle East rumor mill is already spinning that the entire leadership apparatus of Iran is dead. And if they're not dead, they've run away to Russia.

Speaking of, Russia knows it can't save Iran, either.

Following the conversation, in which Trump likely made it clear that he would not restrain Israel, Putin sent a warning to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, stating that his regime is in danger. Putin informed Khamenei of the call's outcomes and advised him to move quickly toward negotiations. Additionally, Putin ordered the evacuation of Russian embassy personnel from Tehran.

Iran is on life support. The threat that they could shut down the Hormuz Strait sounds bad until you realize that doing so would require a working navy. It's not clear Iran has anything approaching a functioning military, let alone a navy. And if they shut down that shipping lane, Iran would cut off their primary money-making operation of shipping oil to China.

Israel has air superiority over Iran and has been refueling their own planes over Iranian airspace. Israel hasn't yet achieved total victory. However, the power it holds over Iran is the kind that undermines legitimacy. A week ago, regime change seemed like a pipe dream. Right now, that's the most likely outcome unless Israel decides to let the Mullahs continue.

That's where we are now. Israel holds the Islamic State of Iran in its fist, and they will live or die on how Israel makes that decision. From October 7 to now, the lone Jewish state has gone from victim to the wholesale destruction of Iran and all its terrorist proxies.

Ali Khamenei, if he still lives, presided over the destruction of Iran. He spouts an unending stream of antisemitic profanity at Israel and the West. Still, his shaking fist is the only thing left. Israel has his head in its hands. The only question left is what Israel does with him and the Iranian regime.

Regime change is nearly inevitable at this point. It's impossible to chart where things go from here. The chicken littles on the right who went from proclaiming Iran was unbeatable now claim this is 2003 all over again.

Perhaps. Israel may also have partner nations like Saudi Arabia interested in the outcome of a postwar Iran. That could significantly alter the trajectory of things. The problem with Iraq is that Iran kept trying to make it a puppet state. If we get regime change, that menace to the region will be gone.

Barack Obama thought he was bringing a new beginning to Iran and the Middle East when he kicked off his infamous apology tour in 2009. In reality, his speech was the opposite. It was the last gasp of a foreign policy establishment that wanted to build up a bloodthirsty Iranian regime at the expense of Israel.

What happens now is the real new beginning. A Middle East without Iran can chart its course without the chief instigator of regional instability.

Donald Trump secured the region's agreement to the Abraham Accords. And he now presides over a new Middle East just five months into his presidency. If he were a Democrat, he'd be a shoo-in for the Nobel Peace Prize. And if the Nobel weren't filled with antisemites, Netanyahu would get a similar medal.