President Trump floated the possibility of “regime change” in Iran on Sunday in a post to his Truth Social account.
- “It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!” the president wrote.
This is the first time Trump has raised the possibility of regime change in Iran since Israel launched its war ten days ago — and the U.S. joined with airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear sites on Saturday.
- Trump has criticized the neo-conservative faction of the Republican Party for years over their support for regime changes in Iraq, Iran and other places around the world.
The president’s post is a departure from the rest of his administration, which has stressed multiple times over the last several days that its goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and that the U.S. is not pushing for regime change in Iran.
- Vice President Vance said on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press” that the administration’s view “has been very clear that we don’t want a regime change.”
- “We do not want to protract this or build this out any more than it’s already been built out. We want to end their nuclear program, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here,” Vance said.
An Iran regime change has become an unstated goal of the Israeli government since the war began earlier this month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even said it could be one of the results of the war.
Yes, but, there has been no significant uprising against the Iranian regime since the war began, and experts have mentioned a dynamic of rallying around the flag in Iran — even among Iranians who are critical of the regime.
Trump also wrote on his Truth Social account on Sunday that the damage to the Iran nuclear sites targeted by U.S. airstrikes “is said to be monumental” and that the hits “were hard and accurate.”
- Trump said the B-2 bombers who conducted the strikes in Iran landed back in their base in Missouri after more than 36 hours in the air.
Khamanei’s successor
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has named three senior clerics as candidates to take his place if he is assassinated, The New York Times reported.
Living in a deep bunker, Khamenei has also instructed officials to shut down all electronic communications around him to make it harder to find him, the newspaper reported, quoting three Iranian officials familiar with Khamenei’s emergency war plans.
The NYT in its report said: Ayatollah Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, also a cleric and close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, who was rumored to be a front-runner, is not among the candidates, the officials said. Iran’s former conservative president, Ibrahim Raisi, was also considered a front-runner before he was killed in a helicopter crash in 2024.
AXIOS, NYT