Is Iran Operation America First? | Natalie Ecanow

From Problematic Women by The Daily Signal

March 7, 2026 · 31 min

About this episode

Natalie Ecanow discusses the implications of Operation Epic Fury in Iran and the potential for regime change amidst concerns of a prolonged conflict.

The U.S. has hit hundreds of targets in Iran since the launch of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, and President Donald Trump says the U.S. will not accept anything less than “unconditional surrender” from Iran. While recent polling shows significant support for the operation, some Americans fear another “forever war” in the Middle East. Fear over an extended conflict with Iran and its proxies, such as Hezbollah, is driven, at least in part, by the words “regime change,” Natalie Ecanow, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, explains. “Obviously, we would like to see regime change as an outcome of the current American and Israeli operation in Iran. As far as I know, and as far as I understand, that is not a stated objective of our campaign,” Ecanow says. U.S. actions in Iran, according to the White House, remain focused on eliminating the nuclear and missile threat Iran poses to the U.S. and its allies, a mission that reasonably falls in line with Trump’s “America First” agenda. “We can throw the door open to regime change. We can support regime change, but we’re not going in and doing the regime change ourselves,” Ecanow says on the “Problematic…

People in this episode

Guest: Natalie Ecanow

Topics covered

Iran
Operation Epic Fury
U.S. foreign policy
regime change
Middle East conflict

Keywords

Trump
Hezbollah
nuclear threat
military objectives

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Problematic Women

Places: Iran, U.S., the Middle East, America, Iraq, the United States, US