US Strike Plans Reach “Advanced Stage” with Regime Change on the Table

A new, explosive report by Reuters published on Friday, February 20, 2026, reveals that U.S. military planning against Iran has reached an “advanced stage,” featuring highly aggressive options that go far beyond targeting nuclear infrastructure. According to two unnamed U.S. officials, the Pentagon has presented President Donald Trump with a blueprint that includes the targeted assassination of key military leaders and the explicit pursuit of “regime change” in Tehran.
The “Decapitation” Strategy
The revelation marks a drastic escalation in Washington’s stated objectives. While previous leaks indicated a “weeks-long” air campaign aimed at ballistic missile and nuclear sites, the new Reuters report confirms that U.S. targeteers are actively mapping out the command-and-control nodes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to strike its leadership directly.
The strategy heavily borrows from recent Israeli tactics. “The 12-day war and Israeli strikes against individual targets really showed the utility of that approach,” one of the U.S. officials told Reuters. During that conflict last year, Israel successfully eliminated at least 20 senior Iranian commanders. The U.S. plan reportedly seeks to replicate this success on a massive scale, crippling the regime’s ability to coordinate a defense or direct its regional proxy network.
Regime Change from the Air?
The most surprising element of the leaked planning is the serious consideration of “regime change” without the deployment of a large U.S. ground force. The strategy appears to rely on a combination of overwhelming air supremacy, total economic strangulation, and the potential exploitation of ongoing domestic unrest within Iran. By systematically dismantling the IRGC’s leadership structure from the sky, military planners hope to create a sudden power vacuum that could trigger the internal collapse of the Ayatollah’s government.
The Intelligence Hurdle
Despite the ambitious scope, the officials cautioned that executing these “decapitation” strikes requires flawless, real-time intelligence. Pinpointing the exact locations of mobile military commanders and striking them before they move into heavily populated civilian areas remains a significant operational challenge.
With the diplomatic window effectively closed following the breakdown of the Geneva talks, these “advanced stage” preparations suggest the Trump administration is no longer just posturing. The massive U.S. airlift—which has now surged thousands of troops and nearly 200 flights into the Middle East—is actively putting the assets in place to execute this unprecedented campaign.