International | The Telegram

In Trumpworld, toppling rulers is taboo

Donald Trump prefers deals to regime change

Illustration of the entrance of a club called 'World Leaders Club VVIP'. Trump's silhouette is in the door.
Illustration: Chloe Cushman
|5 min read

BY THE TIME the Iran crisis ends, President Donald Trump risks breaking some solemn promises about war and peace. Large-scale American help to destroy Iran’s deeply buried nuclear sites would imperil his pledge to keep America out of Middle Eastern conflicts. Yet if his caution allows a wounded Iran to successfully sprint for a bomb, that would challenge Mr Trump’s stated belief that “you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon”.

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This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “In Trumpworld, toppling rulers is taboo”

From the June 21st 2025 edition

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