Adrian Ma

From NPR, I'm Adrian Ma.

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More than three weeks ago, President Donald Trump made a promise to the Iranian people.

That was on February 28th, the day the U.S.

and Israel launched their war with Iran.

They killed Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, alongside other top military and political leaders.

The targeted strikes, led primarily by Israel, were meant to cripple Iran's governmental, military, and nuclear research arms.

And Trump said he wanted the killings to serve as an opening for the Iranian people to rise up against their government.

So far, they haven't.

But Israel and the U.S.

have kept up the targeted assassinations.

Iranian leaders killed in recent days include Ali Larrajani.

He was a longtime Iranian official, most recently head of their National Security Council.

Even President Trump said that has hurt his administration's efforts to communicate with the Iranian government.

These targeted attacks have a name in the intelligence community —

decapitation strikes.

Jenna Jordan is a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and she actually wrote a book on decapitation strikes.

She says they're not helping Israel or the U.S.

accomplish their war goals.

Consider this.