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The United States and Israel have, according to reliable sources, “obliterated” or “severely damaged” Iran’s nuclear installations, but so long as the regime and its terror proxies continue to exist, the mission remains unaccomplished.

“The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose,” Henry Kissinger observed in 1969.

The continuing rule of Iran and its terror proxies remains a major threat to security and stability in the Middle East. Let us not forget that their main goal is to destroy not only Israel (the “Little Satan”), but also the US (the “Great Satan”).

The US attack on three underground nuclear sites in Iran is undoubtedly a severe blow to the Iranian regime and its nuclear weapons program. Israel’s “Twelve Day War” against the Iranian regime — during which scores of Iranian nuclear scientists and senior military and intelligence commanders were killed, and Iran’s air defenses and many of its missile launchers destroyed — also dealt a severe blow to the mullahs’ regime.

Iran’s regime may have lost its nuclear sites, but it has not lost its appetite to kill Jews and wipe Israel off the map.

The Israeli and American military operations against Iran should be followed by a massive campaign to end the rule of Iran’s current regime. Would the Allied forces have left the Nazi Party as the rulers of Germany after World War II?

Ideally, such a campaign should be spearheaded by the Iranian people themselves with the backing of Western countries, including the US, and Arabs and Muslims who oppose the Iranian regime and view it as a direct threat to their national security. These countries include Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in addition to the recognized governments of countries home to Iran’s current and former proxies: Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. They will cooperate once they see that the US is serious about standing against, not appeasing, those who threaten the security and stability of the Arab countries.

The campaign needs to consist of diplomatic and economic pressure against Iran. Stepping up direct, secondary and indirect sanctions imposed on Iran is one way to undermine its regime and hasten its collapse. The Biden administration, unfortunately, did the opposite: Iranian crude oil exports have risen more than threefold over the past four years, according to the US Energy Information Agency.

President Donald J. Trump, regrettably, signaled more of the same last week by inviting Iran to continue shipping its oil to China and by inviting China to buy it. Trump appears to believe that he can domesticate these two enemies of the US and the West by showing them he means them no harm: “I wish the leadership of Iran would realize that you often get more with HONEY than you do with VINEGAR,” he recently wrote. It is a constructive start to a negotiation, but may quickly prove unrealistic. With China, Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran and its proxies, Trump may be underestimating the intensity of their desires.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on several Chinese refineries that were buying Iranian crude oil as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran. Lifting these sanctions gave a lifeline to both Iran and China. Trump seems to be hoping that trade and prosperity can replace hostility and aggression.

Increasing the economic pressure on Iran, however, would undermine Iran’s terror proxies: Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Lebanon-based Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen. Without Iran’s financial and military support, these groups would not be able to pursue their genocidal war against Israel. With an enriched Iran, freely selling its oil to China, the temptation to rebuild a war machine might be hard to resist.

The four Iran-backed terror groups have also been dealt major blows by Israel since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion of Israel. On that day, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered and thousands wounded. Another 251 Israelis and foreign nationals were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where 50 — alive and dead – are still being held hostage.

Since the beginning of the war, Israel has eliminated thousands of Hamas and PIJ terrorists, including dozens of senior military commanders, and destroyed the organizations’ military capabilities. The mission, however, will remain unaccomplished as long as Hamas remains in control of the Gaza Strip. There is no alternative to a total (and humiliating) defeat of those two Iran-backed terror groups, responsible for the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust. The weakening or removal of the Iranian regime can only facilitate the mission of obliterating Hamas and PIJ in Gaza, and freeing all the Israeli hostages they hold.

The same applies to Iran’s other terror proxies. Hezbollah paid a heavy price for choosing to wage war on Israel to support Hamas immediately after October 7. Israel has killed most of Hezbollah’s political and military leaders, and destroyed a significant amount of their weapons arsenal. Hezbollah, however, is still around and most likely rearming and regrouping to launch more rocket and drone attacks on Israel in the future. Like Hamas and PIJ, Hezbollah’s survival depends largely on continued financial and military support from Iran.

Allowing Iran’s mullahs to stay in power means allowing their terror proxies to continue jihad (holy) war against Israel. Hamas, PIJ, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis have not given up their dream of destroying Israel and replacing it with an Islamist terror state. The mullahs in Iran will continue to chant “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” while their proxies along Israel’s northern and southern borders will continue planning more October 7-style massacres.

Although it is located thousands of kilometers away from Israel, Yemen’s Houthi militia, so long as it receives political and military support from its patrons in Iran, will continue to fire ballistic missiles at Israel.

Significantly, the slogan of the Houthi militia is: “God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews, Victory to Islam.”

This slogan also sums up the goal of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies: to destroy Israel and the US. It is a goal that Iran’s mullahs and their proxies are evidently determined to pursue, with or without nuclear weapons.

It is time for the Trump administration and its Western allies to understand that there can be no genuine deals or compromises with either Sunni or Shiite jihadists who consider America and Israel as the big and small “Satans.”

If the US and the West do not want to be directly involved in bringing about regime change in Iran, they should at least encourage and back any opposition individuals or groups working to topple Iran’s Islamist regime. Reinstating economic sanctions on Iran could help accelerate the downfall of the mullahs and their terror proxies. That is the only way to bring peace and stability to the Middle East and prevent further violence and bloodshed. When your enemies say they want to eliminate you, you have every right to eliminate them first.

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.