Trump promotes regime change in Iran, contradicting his administration's message

Top national security officials in the Trump administration appeared on major US television networks on Sunday to discuss President Trump's remarkable achievement in destroying Iran's nuclear facilities and to insist that his administration does not seek to topple the Iranian regime, but rather its nuclear program.

But Trump, as usual, contradicted his administration officials and left the door open for regime change. The president wrote on his Truth Social platform: "It's not politically correct to use the term 'regime change,' but if the current Iranian regime can't make Iran great again, why not have a regime change? To make Iran great again!!!"

While Trump did not call for the overthrow of the regime, nor did he say the United States would play any role in overthrowing the Iranian government, his words undermined what appeared to be a coordinated message from his senior advisors. Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth all insisted on Sunday that the United States was only interested in dismantling Iran's nuclear capabilities. "We don't want regime change," Vance told ABC. "We want to end the Iranian nuclear program. That's what the president has told us."

Others also focused their statements on the idea that the strikes were limited and focused only on Iran's nuclear program.

This conflicting tone highlights the difficulty the Trump administration faces in trying to deal with the repercussions of its massive strike on Iran—both domestically and internationally. Officials are seeking to persuade Tehran to keep its response limited and to appease its electoral base, which did not want the United States to launch these strikes.

But Trump's post illustrates the prevailing feeling within the administration that all this could end with the downfall of the Iranian government.

Rubio was the first to hint at this possibility on Sunday. While reiterating that toppling the Islamic Republic was not the goal of the strikes, he said that if Iran remained committed to becoming a nuclear power, it could jeopardize the regime's survival. Speaking on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," Rubio said, "I think it would mean the end of the regime if they tried to do that."

Trump's willingness to consider regime change is likely to inflame divisions within his party.

So far, many of Trump's supporters, many of whom opposed attacking Iran, have rallied around him, praising the strike as a limited measure, but there were already signs of dissent before his social media post.

In a lengthy post on X, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said she is "sick" of American involvement in foreign wars and fears the repercussions.

“American troops have been killed and forever torn apart physically and psychologically for regime change, foreign wars, and the profits of the military-industrial complex,” she said.

Vice President Vance was seen as a leader of the anti-war faction in the Republican Party before endorsing Trump's approach this week. In a separate interview on Sunday, Vance said the United States sees a path to talking to the current Iranian government and integrating it into the international community if it pledges to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"We want to end their nuclear program, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Although it will take days to assess the full impact of the US strikes, Iran has already pledged to respond.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that the United States had "crossed a very big red line" and that now was not the time for diplomacy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long publicly promoted the idea of regime change in Iran, stating that changing the Iranian government is not the goal of Israeli operations, but rather a goal of weakening the country.

Within the administration, Trump and his team still feel confident in their ability to prevent the response from spiraling out of control.

It's worth noting that few Republicans have publicly endorsed the overthrow of the Iranian government or supported Israel in doing so. However, last week, Trump publicly considered assassinating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Republican hawks are eager to seize the opportunity to topple the government in Tehran.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a hawkish voice in the party, said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Israel should have tried to overthrow the Iranian government “a long time ago.” Graham said he spoke Sunday with Netanyahu, who told Graham that “this regime will not be tolerated by Israel.” Following Trump’s post, Graham said on Channel 10, “President Trump is absolutely right to want to make Iran great again through regime change, either through his behavior or through new leadership.”

Defense Secretary Hegseth said Sunday that the United States had conveyed both public and private messages to Iran, adding that the regime "fully" understood the administration's position. Hailing the operation as a success at a Pentagon press conference, Hegseth emphasized that the attack's goal "was not regime change" and vowed that US efforts in Iran would not be "open-ended," rejecting any comparisons to the long US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Trump opposed during his campaign.