American broadcaster and conservative commentator Mark Levin used an X post on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, to renew his longstanding call for the complete destruction of Iran’s ruling regime, urging the Trump administration to finish the military operation that began with spectacular early gains and to stop what he described as the sidelining of Israel.
Levin framed the moment as one in which more people are aligning with his view of the conflict. He listed specific steps he said must be taken: finish the military operation, stop sidelining Israel, destroy Kharg Island and other critical economic infrastructure and vital targets, and train and arm the Iranian people as a means of overthrowing the regime under the Reagan Doctrine.
In the full post, Levin wrote:
“It was inevitable. More and more people are coming around to my position re the Iranian regime: finish the military operation that was so spectacular in the early weeks of the war; stop sidelining our best and most loyal ally, Israel, which has a lethal military and intelligence service; destroy Kharg Island and all other critical economic infrastructure and vital targets (they can all be rebuilt, over time, once the regime is eliminated); and, train/arm the Iranian people as one of the most effective means for overthrowing the Islamist-terrorist regime (the Reagan Doctrine).
Stop backdoor discussions and all diplomacy/negotiations. Stop the putative ceasefires. The Islamist-terrorist regime uses this time to recalibrate its tactics, rearm with the help of Communist China, North Korea, and Russia, and tighten its police state over the population. We must execute our military and economic objectives with the goal of destroying the regime — destroying it either in the near term or creating the conditions for it in the mid-term. And ignore the Arab monarchs and Turkey’s Islamist mass-murderer lobbying for a phony peace to protect their own territories. The enemy will be an ever-greater threat if it survives and there will be nothing effective to stop its mad rush for nuclear and convention weapon superiority. Therefore, the faster we do what must be done, the faster it will be over with a real victory. Respectfully, I believe we are taking too many key opportunities off the table, including those I mentioned. In part, this is due to some of the civilian and military advisers to the president.
The Islamist-terrorist regime will not surrender (duh), it will not negotiate in good faith (duh), it will not honor any paper deal (duh), and it will not give up its nuclear ambition (duh). It even says so. And it has demonstrated this and more. We cannot contain the regime (we will not have the will in the years ahead, and they will not relent). We are their #1 enemy, and their ideology compels the obliteration of the West. God bless POTUS for taking this on despite the Woke Right isolationist backbenchers demanding capitulation and attempting to undermine the war effort, as well as the Democrats and the media seeking political exploitation and opportunities. We need to finish this. And we have the enemy just where we want them.”
The post reflects Levin’s consistent position throughout the 2026 conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran. That conflict, often referred to under the U.S. designation Operation Epic Fury and the Israeli designation Operation Roaring Lion, began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28, 2026. Those opening attacks targeted Iranian leadership, air defenses, missile sites, nuclear infrastructure, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps assets, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and inflicting heavy damage in the early weeks.
Levin has repeatedly argued that the early military successes created an opportunity that should not be squandered through ceasefires, backdoor talks, or limited objectives focused primarily on oil prices and nuclear constraints. In prior posts and on his radio program, he has pressed for strikes on Kharg Island—the terminal through which the large majority of Iran’s oil exports flow—arguing that its destruction would cripple the regime’s economic lifeline while infrastructure could later be rebuilt once the regime is gone.
He has also consistently called for arming and training Iranian opposition forces as a core element of regime change, explicitly invoking the Reagan Doctrine of supporting anti-communist resistance movements during the Cold War. Levin has described the Iranian government as an “Islamist-terrorist regime” that cannot be contained, will never negotiate in good faith, and remains ideologically committed to the destruction of the United States and the West.
Earlier in August 2026, Levin posted that the only way to destroy the regime is to arm the people and take out Kharg Island. On August 10 he warned that declaring victory through workarounds on the Strait of Hormuz while leaving future operations against the IRGC, Kharg Island, other key infrastructure, and the arming of Iranian opposition off the table would amount to a false victory and risk a forever war.
Levin has also criticized what he sees as the sidelining of Israel, describing it as America’s best and most loyal ally with a lethal military and intelligence service that should not be constrained. He has dismissed lobbying by Arab monarchs and Turkish leaders for what he terms a phony peace designed to protect their own interests rather than eliminate the Iranian threat.
The broader context of the war includes periods of intense U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iranian retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the region, disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, and intermittent diplomatic efforts and putative ceasefires. Reports have noted Iranian efforts to rearm with assistance from China, North Korea, and Russia during lulls in fighting, consistent with Levin’s description of how the regime uses pauses to recalibrate.
Levin has repeatedly blessed President Trump for initiating military action against the regime after decades of what he calls failed containment and appeasement policies, while arguing that certain civilian and military advisers and isolationist voices have taken critical options off the table. He maintains that the regime will never surrender, never honor agreements, and never abandon its nuclear ambitions, and that the only path to a real victory is the destruction of the regime itself, either quickly or by creating the conditions for its mid-term collapse.
His August 18 post closes with the assertion that the United States and its allies have the enemy “just where we want them,” and that the faster decisive military and economic measures are executed, the sooner a genuine victory can be achieved.