Trump must attack Iran’s center of gravity

The Hill ^ | Mr. 12, 2026 | Mark Toth and Jonathan Sweet,

[libstripper]

Conventional military thought, derived from the writings of Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, dictates that one identify the enemy’s center of gravity, then “concentrate all energy against it.”

For the Islamic Republic of Iran, it center of gravity — “the source of power that provides moral or physical strength, freedom of action, or will to act” — is its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose principal mission is to keep the regime in power.

While the U.S. and Israeli militaries have systematically dismantled Iran’s conventional military and nuclear ambitions — the direct threat to them — they have left the internal security forces — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Basij paramilitary — mostly intact.

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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: callthepentagon; iran; irgc; theshill; trump; war

[libstripper]

Really good commentary. In the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany the NKVD and the SS, respectively, were the core organizations that implemented terror and kept the regimes intact. The IRGC does the same thing for the mullahs. As with the NKVD and SS, it needs to be destroyed before Iran can be liberated.

[Bishop_Malachi]

Maybe George Bush could give Trump some pointers Perhaps we could pull out the Ouija Board and contact John McCain for some advice.

It’s amazing to see our party make the same mistakes that got people like Obama elected, but it is the doom of men that they forget.

[desertsolitaire]

Will Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be as straightforward to attack and destroy as their conventional military forces and drone/missile manufacturing infrastructure?

[ansel12]

I’ve assumed that was the mission, destroy military/nuke capabilities first because you must to be able to move to step two, and then destroy the armed internal powers that prevent revolution.

[Mount Athos]

TJust idiotic. We must do this! They say.

Totally missing from this article is any consideration or discussion of actual US interests

Hopefully our decision makers are more sober and clear thinking

[bigbob]

There’s only one way to find out…

[libstripper]

The actual US interest is an Iran that is not a terror monmger trying to destroy US and Israel and waging constant war against us. That means replacing the present regime with another that doesn’t have those motives. Doing it requires exirpating the IRGC, just as we extirpated the SS in Germany.

[Bob Wills is still the king]

The IRGC is 200,000 strong, and Iran is a country of 90 million people. The idea that neutralizing the IRGC will be easy or done through air power is a dangerous fantasy.

The only way to “defang” the IRGC is boots on the ground. Nobody is ready for the loss of military personnel and a cost of $2 billion a day.

[Mr. Mojo]

The IRGC HQ and most if not all their facilities have been bombed. Problem is, plenty of IRGCers have survived and are hiding amongst the populace. They’ll be very difficult to kill.

[Deo volente]

We might have to destroy the entire country in order to save it. As far as revolution goes, the people are unarmed and subject to being mowed down by automatic gunfire when they raise their voices in protest. The entire Revolutionary Guard will have to be eradicated before victory is assured. That means several hundred thousand boots on the ground and probably enormous American casualties.
I cannot imagine we’ll go down this path.
Disclaimer: not a military planner or an expert on strategy. Perhaps the people in charge have a plan that will work and this war will be ended soon.

[Sirius Lee]

they have left the internal security forces — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Basij paramilitary — mostly intact.

Dipsh*t leftist Hill scribblers. We are working down the chain of command and high value targets to the lower tier. Give it another week or two and the Islamic Revolutionary Goat Coddlers will be dust and ash.

[Psalm 73]

"The idea that neutralizing the IRGC will be easy or done through air power is a dangerous fantasy."

Same idea Hitler had with Great Britain. Air power by itself is severely limited.

[curious7]

Or arm the locals and if they’re serious about freedom they can take care of business.

[PIF]

Nobody is ready for the loss of military personnel and a cost of $2 billion a day.

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Weighed against the cost of one Iranian missile with a nuclear warhead. Which costs more?

[Uncle Miltie]

Persians know where the IRGC and Basij live.

It is the job of the Persians to burn them out, chase them down the street and beat them to death with sticks.

Persians, hear! Are you willing to fight and some of you die for the future of your children?

History is calling and wants to know if you are Free Men or Slaves!

What’ll it be?

[montag813]

Don't we have cluster bombs that can kill thousands of troops at one time? I assume the IRGC has bases where troops mass. We (like Iran) are not signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Why not mass slaughter these troops?

Also, why not cause hysteria by arranging a $100 million bribe to the majority-Arab province of Khuzestan (next to Kuwait and Iraq) where 90% of Iran's oil comes from) to announce they are seceding from Iran and joining the U.S. side? The IRGC would be forced to send troops there, where we can slaughter them. Clusters, depleted uranium, napalm. Enough pussyfooting around. Let's use all the wonderful chemical compounds created by American ingenuity!

[BuchananBrigadeTrumpFan]

Has John Bolton ever been right about anything?

[Carriage Hill]

That would be a long and costly war, for us.

[Sirius Lee]

Same idea Hitler had with Great Britain. Air power by itself is severely limited.

A) Trump is not Hitler. The U.S. is not nazi germany. It's telling that you made that comparison.

B) Great Britain was not what Iran is now. (although the UK is headed that way)

C) Air Power now includes smart drones. V-1s didn't count and were few in number.

D) Hitler never had total air dominance. Radar, Spits, and Hurricanes proved that.

The Islamic Revolutionary Goat Coddlers are going to be wiped from the face of this planet.

[PGR88]

I agree this war does not help Trump, MAGA, or the GOP in any way. The midterms could be ugly. The gravest threat to America is having our own neo-marxists and Davos/deep-state Democrats in power. But I believe Trump is aware of that and won’t carry this war much longer.

But I disagree with you that planning has not been done for all scenarios, including a long-term stalemate. Moreover, Trump will not put troops on the ground (except possibly for special forces). I imagine everyone expected “regime-change” was a long-shot option. The next option will be that Iran will be “contained” like Iraq after Gulf War I

Not ideal, but it will likely turn into a tense peace and stalemate for years, with regular bombings of Iran, while Iran slowly continues to wither.