What should be the US's path forward with Iran? (online, no debate motion)

Beginning on February 28 2026, the United States and Israel launched surprise airstrikes on multiple sites and cities across Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and numerous other Iranian officials. Iran responded with missile and drone strikes against Israel, US bases, and US-allied countries in the region.

As of this writing, these attacks from both sides are continuing.
The question we will be addressing is what our own government should be doing next -- both in the next few days and long-term over the next several years:
"What should be the US's path forward with Iran?"
This is an open-ended question, rather than one of our usual debates on a motion.

• Should we just stop bombing Iran? And negotiate peaceful arrangements?
• Or keep bombing Iran until it surrenders unconditionally? Or until a new regime takes power there? Or until it stops restricting maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz?
• What should US aims be with respect to Iran's nuclear program, and Iran's ballistic missile program? And Iran's support for Hizbullah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine, and the Houthis in Yemen?
• What about Israel, America's ally in this war? Should the US restrain or continue to arm Israel in its bombing of Iran?
• Over the longer term, if and when the bombing stops, what approach should the US take with Iran? What to do about long-standing US sanctions on Iran?

SUGGESTED READING:

• "Trump Should Aim to Neutralize the Iran Regime, Not Destroy It", by Charles A. Kupchan, Georgetown University and Council on Foreign Relations (March 10):
  https://www.cfr.org/articles/trump-should-defang-irans-government-not-destroy-it
• "Toward a Theory of Victory for the War in Iran", by Can Kasapoğlu, Hudson Institute (March 16):
  https://www.hudson.org/national-security-defense/toward-theory-victory-war-iran-can-kasapoglu
• "Ending the Trump-Netanyahu War in the Middle East", by Jeffrey D. Sachs and Sybil Fares, Columbia University and United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (March 16):
  https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/how-to-end-the-iran-war
• "Finding an Off-ramp in the Middle East War", by International Crisis Group (March 16):
  https://www.crisisgroup.org/stm/middle-east-north-africa/iran-israelpalestine-united-states/finding-ramp-middle-east-war
• "There’s Only One Path to Victory in Iran", by Mark Montgomery, Foundation for Defense of Democracies (March 19):
  https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/opinion/iran-war-strait-hormuz.html
  Non-paywalled version: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/3cQYS

ABOUT THIS EVENT:

At SFDebate events, everyone gets a chance to speak, and is encouraged to do so, but no one is required to speak if they don't want to. A moderator will make sure that only one person is speaking at a time, and that nobody speaks for more than 2 minutes at a time.

Our meeting will be conducted on Zoom. The Zoom link will be visible here on the event page before the event to those who RSVP. It's your choice if you want to turn on your camera or not, but people who can be seen are often more persuasive.