Trump ‘holds all the cards’ in war against Iran’s regime, White House says

JERUSALEM — With Iran’s missing-in-action Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei taunting Americans about the "collapse" of the U.S. after the midterm elections, the White House and Middle East experts argue Trump is positioned to defeat the remnants of the rogue regime.

The remaining two years of President Trump’s Iran policy have profound implications for his legacy and could lay the foundation for a new Middle East devoid of the region’s worst state sponsor of terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran, should Trump pursue new military actions to dislodge Khamenei’s regime, according to experts.

Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since a joint U.S.-Israel airstrike killed his father, former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and members of his family, boasted on X following the Republican defeat in the midterms: "The process of the US's collapse has accelerated."

New Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since a joint U.S.-Israel airstrike killed his father. (Vahid Salemi/AP; Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

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The radical Islamist clerical ruler’s braggadocio was met with tough statements from the White House and leading Middle East experts on Iran’s theocratic state.

A White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital that "The United States is in a very strong position with control of the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian economy collapsing. Iran has been decimated, and things will go one of two ways; the easy way or the hard way. President Trump holds all the cards and will do whatever is best for the United States."

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The spokesperson added, "Only President Trump knows what he will do and when."

The Islamic Republic ramped up its bellicose anti-American and anti-Western rhetoric and activities over the last week. Tehran presented a "Trump in a Cage" exhibit with a mock execution of Trump to coincide with the regime’s anniversary of its illegal seizure of the U.S. Embassy and kidnapping of its personnel on Nov. 4, 1979.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of late Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attends a meeting in Tehran, Iran, in this photo from March 2016. (Rouhollah Vahdati/ISNA/WANA/Reuters)

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The Ayatollahs did not restrict their jingoism to the U.S. An AI-generated video published by state-controlled Iranian media outlets shows the spokesperson of the headquarters of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces threatening Western Europe. The spokesperson said, "We are not like you. Iran does not harm innocents. You are not our enemy. But anyone, anywhere in Europe, who assists America in harming our women and children is our enemy, and we will punish them."

The video features military targets in France, Germany and Britain.

Navid Mohebbi, who worked as a Persian media analyst for the State Department's Public Affairs Bureau, told Fox News Digital, "Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, went so far as to claim that Iran had inflicted a political defeat on Trump in Washington, in addition to its supposed victories on the battlefield and in the Strait of Hormuz. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf similarly portrayed the election results as an American rejection of the war."

President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Iran following an Israeli strike in Tehran alongside several Cabinet members on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (@WhiteHouse/X)

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He added that "This is part of a broader psychological and political campaign. Tehran, along with commentators sympathetic to the regime in the United States, is trying to promote the wildly exaggerated narrative that confronting the Islamic Republic carries an unbearable electoral cost for American politicians."

Mohebbi said the "evidence does not support the claim that the Iran war alone caused the Republican defeat. According to national exit polling, only 4% of voters identified foreign policy as the country’s single most important issue."

The phrase "finish the job" has become synonymous with toppling the 47-year ironclad totalitarian rule of the Islamic Republic.

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"I believe President Trump should finish the job, because the fundamental threats posed by the Islamic Republic remain unresolved," Mohebbi said, adding, "The nuclear file is far from closed. Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile remains unaccounted for under international verification, and the regime has retained the ability to rebuild elements of its ballistic missile program. More importantly, its underlying strategic behavior and hostility toward the United States and its regional allies have not fundamentally changed."

Former Pentagon official Simone Ledeen told the London-based Iran International news organization the Islamic Republic "needs to end" and regime will never change its behavior. She called support for Iran’s people on the ground and opposes putting American troops on the ground.

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Veteran Iran observers and experts have noted that President Trump was the first U.S. leader not to kick the Iran nuclear weapons problem down the road. His decision to confront Iran’s illegal atomic weapons system was one of the most decisive foreign policy achievements of his administration, according to popular American commentators like Ben Shapiro.

Shapiro termed Trump’s Operation Epic Fury campaign against Iran "the single bravest foreign policy move of my lifetime."

"What you’re watching him [Trump] do in Iran is not only unprecedented in terms of its political courage. I think that it is and has the potential to be a true game changer for America’s role in the world, not only for the next 10 or 20 years, but for the coming century," Shapiro told Lara Trump on Fox News' "My View" in March.

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Mohebbi said: "There is also a critical factor that Washington must understand: the Islamic Republic is attempting to wait out the Trump administration. Even if Trump were to negotiate the strongest possible agreement today, I believe Tehran would view it as a temporary arrangement rather than a permanent change in its strategic direction. The regime calculates that a future Democratic administration would not resort to military action against it. Once Tehran believes the threat of military force is off the table, it will become even more defiant in its behavior and more brazen at the negotiating table."

Another school of thought is to subcontract military actions to Israel against Iran’s regime.

President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Iran following an Israeli strike in Tehran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (@WhiteHouse/X)

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Mardo Soghom, an Iran expert who has written extensively about the Islamic Republic, told Fox News Digital that Tehran's strategy has always been to wait out U.S. pressure.

"They were hoping to ride out the Trump administration's pressures for two more years. Now they believe they have it," Soghom said. "I think he should give full support to Israel to do the job and not interfere. The U.S. should continue to maintain its blockade of Iran and facilitate shipping from the Persian Gulf, but except hitting well-protected and highly dangerous targets, such as nuclear sites if needed, the US should stay out of continuous attacks because its internal political situation is messed up."

Soghom, who tracks Iranian regime media, added the Iranian state radio is celebrating the Democratic victory.

"Incidentally, 47 years ago today, the new Islamic regime in Tehran gave the green light to its supporters to attack and seize the U.S. embassy," he said. "This election result will embolden them, and they'll not be inclined to compromise with the Trump admin — or even a future Democrat. Like in most other things, Trump did not finish the job when he could."

Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital that Iran sees the midterm election results as exacting a political cost from the Trump administration for launching Operation Epic Fury.

"It hopes these electoral losses will deter this and future administrations from launching military operations against Tehran over its aggression and terrorism," Brodsky said, adding that "At the same time, Iranian decision-makers are likely eyeing President Trump warily as U.S. presidents, even after midterm election losses, still have considerable discretion and authority as it relates to foreign policy. President Trump has proven unpredictable and, with over two years left in office, that is a lot of time for the U.S. to continue to damage the Iranian regime."

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Brodsky noted that while Congress can complicate and raise objections, historically, without a veto-proof majority, it retains limited options for checking executive branch operations in this space.

"The 2006 midterm elections are instructive here, where, despite the prevailing anti-war sentiment at the time, President Bush still authorized a surge in the Iraq War," he said.

Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at benjamin.weinthal@fox.com