The Economist writes: ‘The protests in Iran today arguably pose an even greater threat to the regime than those in 2022—yet the reaction in the Arab world has been surprisingly muted.’

And: ‘In a recent interview with The Economist Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, described Iran as having been “relegated to a second-rate power”, an assessment that many Arab officials have come to share.’

The magazine adds: ‘The last thing they [the Gulf states] want is state collapse in Iran, a country of 92m people just 200km across the water. Refugees are one concern. Weapons are another: a fragmented Iran might lose control over its arsenal of missiles and drones, to say nothing of the thousands of kilograms of uranium still unaccounted for after the war.’

Regime change is chaotic. Libya. Iraq. Afghanistan.

How much chaos does Trump deem acceptable, including chaos involving uranium that’s unaccounted for?

(a sf 2029)