Trump hints at possibility of 'regime change' in Iran

US President Donald Trump hinted Sunday via a post on his Truth Social account at the possibility of executing "regime change" in Iran. "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 Republican leader wrote, less than 24 hours after the United States bombed three nuclear bases in Iran, thus getting involved in the armed conflict that the Persian country has had with Israel for a little more than a week now.

Such comments by Trump represent the first time the U.S. president has mentioned the possibility of regime change in Iran since Israel's first bombings. While the Republican leader did not explicitly call for the fall of the Islamic regime or say that his administration would play any kind of role in toppling the Iranian regime, his words appear to be on a different track from messages that have been issued in recent hours by several top members of his administration, such as Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Both insisted this Sunday that the only interest of the United States was to dismantle Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Vance and Hegseth's remarks

During an interview on NBC, Vance commented that the White House position "has been very clear that we don't want a regime change," adding that "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." For his part, Hegseth explained during a press conference at the Pentagon that the operation against Iran was a success and that the objective of those bombings "has not been regime change", adding further that the US efforts in the Persian country would not be "open-ended," thus ruling out comparisons with other armed conflicts such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq.

During an interview with Politico, former deputy national security adviser during Trump's first term, Victoria Coates, who is also the vice president of the Heritage Foundation, explained that, even though many Republicans had expressed days ago their disagreement with the United States getting involved in the Israel-Iran war,a good part of the party seems to remain united around the figure of the president after the bombings of the nuclear plants, including Vice President Vance.

"He is taking the role of asking some tough questions that need to be asked, but if he’s satisfied — as clearly he was about the Iran operation — he’s going to get on board and support the president, because that’s what his job is. It indicates to me that the vast majority of the party is going to come together here — there’s always going to be some outliers," Coates commented.