My guess, for what my guess might be worth to you, is YES.

I confess that I am personally not wild about the way Trump is going at this.  It seems to me like he is dickering with a reluctant buyer over a $2 million condo on the Upper West Side.  That might not work with the fanatical head of a theocratic government that has said repeatedly that their reason for existence is to destroy us.

I am willing to concede that the goal of a positive regime change may not be realistic.  That being said the goal of regime chance certainly IS realistic.  If we kill enough of the people at the upper levels of the government and the military and destroy much of their ability to make war, including ALL of their ability to make nuclear war, the new government will at a minimum be unable to threaten us or our allies effectively.  Sometimes you have to settle for GOOD rather than the PERFECT you would like to have.

I strongly suspect that if we decapitate the government enough times we might end up with a government in Iran that is more interested in taking care of their people rather than killing Jews and Americans, none of which as a group are interested in harming Iran or Iranians as long as they (and their friends) leave us the fuck alone.

We have tried bitch slapping the Somalis and the Yemenis and the Hamas terrorists.  These people have been seriously degraded in their ability to be a pain in the ass.  With Iran no longer backing their play they would be in much worse shape and their neighbors would be much happier.

Trump has drawn his line in the sand.  If he tap dances with it, like he has with the tariff situation, he will look like a fool and won't scare anybody.  In international relations it is nice if the people you are dealing with like you and / or respect you.  It is, however, more effective if they are afraid of you.  Machiavelli said it pretty well a few centuries ago.  THEY control whether or not they like you.  YOU control whether or not they are afraid of you.  Life is more secure if you are in control.