US-Israeli strikes on February 28 killed Iran’s supreme leader but have not toppled the government, which now, from its perch on the Strait of Hormuz, has put the entire world economy on the war’s frontlines.

The worldwide fallout has sparked questions over Washington’s strategy.

Jonathan Paquin, a political science professor at Canada’s Universite Laval, told AFP: “The American administration was undoubtedly presumptuous in believing it held all the cards.”

With no easy exit, Trump is likely to “revise the concept of victory, setting aside the prospect of surrender or regime change” and claiming that the Iranians should rise up on their own, said Paquin.

But while Trump might want to walk away boasting of killing Khamenei and degrading the Iranian military, “Iran might not give him that off-ramp,” said Nate Swanson, of the Atlantic Council.

Read more here.

Iranian stand on a large US flag during the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, a commemoration in support of the Palestinian people on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in Tehran on March 13, 2026. — AFP
Iranian stand on a large US flag during the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, a commemoration in support of the Palestinian people on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in Tehran on March 13, 2026. — AFP

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