President Donald Trump would be unwise to kill Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. At least not as a first step in his anticipated upcoming military action.

This is not to say that Trump should entirely avoid striking Iran. Trump has thus far failed to enforce his red line against Iran’s slaughter of more than 10,000 of its own people during recent protests. If he does not order a punitive response to these atrocities, other adversaries will test Trump’s future redlines as malleable rhetoric within an otherwise unpredictable foreign policy. But military action is now probable. Referencing the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, Trump also warned Iran this week to “negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS … Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!”