Alex Ritson

When he first ran for president in 2016, Donald Trump condemned what he saw as American military adventurism in recent years, declaring that regime change is a proven absolute failure.

But now the US president has gone to war against Iran and may be seeking regime change.

Helena Humphrey is our correspondent in Washington.

I asked her what President Trump's supporters will make of this operation after being promised an America-first policy.

Yeah, that question of did Congress approve this is important, isn't it?

What are the Democrats making of this?

Yeah, you mentioned Iraq.

Presumably the fear is that the chaos that followed the Iraq war might be repeated.

Helena Humphrey in Washington.

Regardless of the political fallout from the attacks on Iran, are they legally justified under international law?

Faisal al-Istrabadi is the founding director of the Centre for the Study of the Middle East at Indiana University in Bloomington in the US.

He was also the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations just after the overthrow of that country's former leader, Saddam Hussein.

Faisal al-Istrabadi from the Center for the Study of the Middle East at Indiana University in the U.S.

To end this edition of the Global News Podcast, I spoke to the BBC's chief international correspondent, Lise Doucette.

She's been covering Iran for years and is one of the few Western journalists who've been able to report from inside the country in recent months.

I asked her how she views the next few days unfolding for Tehran.

The criticism after the Iraq war was that the Americans didn't have a plan.

Do the Americans and the Israelis have a plan this time?

Lise, you've observed the region for a long time.

You're only just back from Iran.