Any U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran (as we argued in our last post) that were limited in some manner, and did not appear to seek regime change, would have allowed the possibility for an agreed offramp at some point. But the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war, meant that this conflict is now seen by Iran’s leadership as a war for survival, and it’s hard to see any possibility for compromise or a negotiated outcome at this point.

The war that began with the joint U.S.–Israeli strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has already moved far beyond the bounds of a conventional regional confrontation.