Marc Lynch

the biggest anti-American force in the Middle East.

I think that's frightening to me.

I think certainly the Iranian state will be set back by many years.

It is now.

But if by that we mean then there will be capitulation by Iran or necessarily that the state will disintegrate.

I mean, it could.

Obviously, none of us would know.

As Mark said, I think disintegration would be the worst thing for the international community, except perhaps for Israel.

But it would be certainly the worst thing for America's Arab allies.

It would be the worst thing for the U.S.,

So what is really obvious is that they've been planning for this war, the Iranians, unlike us.

They've been planning it perhaps for decades.

And I would be shocked if they didn't think that at least the Israelis, they may not know where Trump will go, would want to go after their infrastructure, that they had not planned for these contingencies, that they don't have additional surprises in their sleeve.

I actually expect that they will

go further than they have gone.

But that's what makes it unpredictable.

And I think right now it's fluid.

So I think that probably we don't know where Trump is getting his assessment.

We don't know what he's expecting.

So I'm terrified, not so much by what might happen to the regime, who cares, what might happen to the people of Iran.