Over the past few weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump and his team have voiced contradictory objectives for the war they, together with Israel, launched against Iran. But it is clear that after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed, Trump hoped to deal with a transactional authoritarian figure. He called “what we did in Venezuela”—forcing the replacement of one autocrat, President Nicolás Maduro, with another, Delcy Rodríguez—a “perfect scenario” for Iran and insisted on being “involved with the appointment” of Khamenei’s successor, “like Delcy in Venezuela.” A week and a half ago, he again said he wanted to negotiate with the remaining elements of Iran’s clerical regime, although he complained the terms weren’t “good enough yet.” Trump may have a particularly overt appreciation for authoritarian rulers. But the belief that authoritarianism guarantees stability in the Middle East has long shaped the United States’ foreign policy—and, to a lesser extent, Europe’s.…