The United States has ended its long-running policy of “regime change or nation building,” the national intelligence director said on Friday at a security summit in Bahrain, describing a shift toward stability and economic goals that also affects US policy toward Iran.
President Donald Trump’s approach now prioritizes regional peace and prosperity over democracy promotion, Tulsi Gabbard told officials at the Manama Dialogue.
Washington’s emphasis, she said, had moved from political engineering to achieving practical outcomes, including the ceasefire that halted Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza and the end of Israel’s 12-day war on Iran after US-led airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The United States held five rounds of talks with Tehran earlier this year over its disputed nuclear program, under a 60-day ultimatum set by President Donald Trump.
When no deal was reached by the 61st day, June 13, Israel launched a surprise military campaign, culminating in US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear sites in Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow.
“For decades, our foreign policy has been trapped in a counterproductive and endless cycle of regime change or nation building,” Gabbard said. “It was a one-size-fits-all approach, of toppling regimes, trying to impose our system of governance on others, intervene in conflicts that were barely understood and walk away with more enemies than allies.”
The policy reversal, she said, reflected lessons from past wars that had “cost trillions, taken countless lives and in many cases created greater security threats.”
Gabbard acknowledged that challenges remain, citing fragile conditions in Gaza and renewed activity at Iranian nuclear sites, recently noted by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “The road ahead will not be simple or easy but the president is very committed down this road,” she added.
“The Iranian regime has an interest in a continuous conflict with Israel,” said Palestinian political analyst Khalil Sayegh. “The Palestinians have been used as pawns in this game very cynically."
US President Donald Trump’s administration is advancing a 21-point postwar framework for Gaza, unveiled earlier this month. The plan rules out any political or military future for Hamas — the Iranian-backed group that has ruled the enclave since 2007 — and proposes Arab-led reconstruction under international supervision.
The plan has been described by regional analysts as a potential turning point — one that could further erode Iran’s leverage after the fall of its key Arab ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Sayegh's father died during the war due to what he described as medical neglect due to Israeli attacks on health facilities and lack of access to medical care. His sister too lost her life while en route to Egypt on a so-called safe route designated by Israel where he says were barred from entering.
Despite his loss, he co-founded the Agora Foundation for Middle East Peace, an initiative that aims to promote a lasting peace, equal rights and prosperity for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Tehran’s support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Sayegh said, has long played into the hands of Israeli hardliners.
“Since day one, the extremists in the region have been feeding each other,” he said. “The Israeli right-wing extremists are on the record saying that Hamas is good for us and therefore we have to support them and fund them. The existence of the Iranian regime has been weaponized and used by Benjamin Netanyahu for so long.”
Hamza Howidy, also a Gaza-born activist who was twice imprisoned by Hamas before fleeing the enclave in 2023, said resentment toward Iran is widespread among ordinary Gazans.
“There is a huge, huge hate for the Iranian regime inside Gaza because those people see the Iranian regime as number one, the financer and the reason why Hamas is still there,” he said.
Howidy recalled how Gazans reacted after the death of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May 2024, which led to the election of Masoud Pezeshkian.
“When the Hamas affiliated people tried to make a poster for him inside Gaza during the war, the civilians themselves decided to go to take down this poster,” he said.
A shifting regional context
Both Sayegh and Howidy said Israeli claims of an expanding Iranian role in the West Bank are often exaggerated.
Sayegh said Iran’s ability to move weapons or influence groups in the West Bank has sharply diminished. “They keep trying from what I know, but I don’t think they will succeed,” he said. “They lost Syria — that was their biggest front to claim they’re coming to liberate Palestine.”
Iran’s role in sustaining Palestinian divisions has undermined every path toward peace, Sayegh told Iran International's podcast Eye for Iran.
“Iran has maintained the Palestinian division between the West Bank and Gaza,” Sayegh said. “That has been used by the Israeli regime to argue that a two-state solution is not possible because of the Iranian funding to Hamas.”
Iran’s shrinking reach
Both men said Iran’s influence is diminishing as its proxy network weakens across the region — a further blow to Tehran’s ambitions after two years of devastating war which followed Hamas-led attacks into Israel on October 7, 2023.
The assault killed 1,200 Israelis and brought over 200 others back into Gaza as captives. Israel's devastating incursion into the enclave killed at least 67,000 people.
“I think (Iran) will be weakened tremendously because of the incidents that happened during the past two years,” Howidy said. “I’m talking about the end of the Syrian regime, the notorious Bashar al-Assad and his regime, and then to the defeat or deterrence of Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
The recent recognition of a Palestinian state by Canada, France, Italy, and Britain, Sayegh said, would remove Tehran’s main ideological justification for interference.
“When a Palestinian state emerges," he said, "the Iranian regime would lose its biggest ideological weapon that they are using—the grievances of the Palestinian people and its weaponization to justify its neo-imperialism in the region and to justify its repression of the Iranian people."
You can watch the full episode of Eye for Iran on Youtube or listen on any podcast platform of your choosing.