Trump pivots to confronting Iran with the 'fire and fury' approach - and it could crush the Islamic republic

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• President Donald Trump told Iran to stop threatening the US or it would suffer historically epic consequences.
• Trump was responding to a statement by Iran's president Hassan Rouhani.
  
• Rouhani described a potential conflict with the US as 'the mother of all wars,' but also offered a vision of peace.
• Trump's administration has visibly begun a campaign to undermine Iran's theocratic regime, and it looks like it could work.

President Donald Trump shot down a veiled vision of peace offered by Iran's president on Sunday to full-on threaten the Islamic Republic with historically epic confrontation - and it looks like his administration could potentially topple the country.

"To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE," Trump tweeted.

"WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!" he continued.

Trump was responding to statements from Rouhani, Iran's elected political leader who serves at the pleasure of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's religious supreme leader.

In a meeting with Iranian diplomats, Rouhani offered a vision of peace with the US, but also said a conflict between the two would be "the mother of all wars."

According to Reuters, he said: "America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars."

Rouhani's statement, though balanced against the threat of massive war, actually represents a shift in Iranian foreign policy.

Iran has strongly opposed the US since its theocratic government took power in 1979, with officials chanting "death to America" in parliament. Iran's navy has the explicit, though lofty, operational goal of destroying the US Navy.

Trump is coming for Iran's leadership

Thomson Reuters

Supreme leader display seen at Baharestan Square in Tehran

Rouhani, in extending a veiled olive branch, may have been trying to save his shaky regime from a coming onslaught launched by Trump.

Trump's administration has launched a campaign to topple Iran's leaders, according to a new report from Reuters.

Several officials told Reuters that Trump would pressure Iran's leaders with tough sanctions and an information campaign intending to erode their support.

Recent statements from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indicate this shift has already taken place, as the US expresses its hope for the Iranian people overcoming a regime that adheres to religious laws.

It could actually work

My Stealthy Freedom آزادی یواشکی زنان در ایران/Facebook

An Iranian woman protests the theocratic regimes rule that all women must wear headscarves in public.

Since late 2017, Iran has seen wave after wave of grassroots protests with citizens rejecting the regime's economic, social, and foreign policies.

Iranian women rejecting the forced dress code of headscarves have become emblematic of the struggle.

While European countries strongly opposed to Trump's withdrawal from the Iran deal, the threat of US sanctions has successfully made Tehran a pariah in the business world.

After Trump's withdrawal, Iran's currency ballooned and the government imposed a set of strict financial controls on its citizens, capping the amount of foreign currency they can hold, and seizing overseas accounts.

As Iran's working class rejects the government's foreign policy ambitions, the upper class has had their aspirations of foreign travel or education crushed by the recent reforms. Iran has met protests with security forces and violence time and time again, but the unrest has continued on a regular basis throughout 2018.

Meanwhile Israel has proven adept at beating back Iran in its push towards the Mediterranean. In May, after a rocket attacks Israel attributed to Iran, Israeli jets devastated a large swath of Iranian forces in Syria.

Russia, normally a powerful ally of Iran, swiftly turned its back on Tehran, refusing to sell them air defenses when they were coming under heavy fire from Israel, and telling Iran's militias to leave Syria.

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, told Reuters that Trump's strategy could produce one of two outcomes.

"Outcome one is capitulation, forcing Iran to further curtail not only its nuclear program but also its regional ambitions," Sadjadpour said. "Outcome two is the implosion of the Islamic Republic."

The US maintains it does not seek regime change for any country, even those as antagonistic as Iran and North Korea.

But the people of Iran have shown a genuine distaste for the theocracy's policies, and noted Iran hawks Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton may see the opportunity as too good to pass up.