Washington, New Delhi: In yet another foreign policy flip-flop, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he does not want regime change in Iran, days after floating the idea.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to a Nato summit in the Netherlands, Trump was asked whether he believes the Iranian leadership may need to be replaced.
“No. If there was, there was, but no I don’t want it,” the US President said. “I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible.”
He added: “Regime change takes chaos, and ideally we don’t want to see so much chaos.”
The remarks marked a shift from Trump’s tone over the weekend, when he appeared to support the overthrow of the Iran government following joint US-Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
On Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social, “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???”
His comments sparked consternation among allies, especially after senior officials in his administration insisted that the US military action was aimed solely at disrupting Iran’s nuclear programme, and not replacing its government.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had said the “mission was not and has not been about regime change,” a sentiment echoed by Vice President JD Vance.
The White House later tried to contain the fallout from Trump’s remarks, stating that regime change is a matter for the Iranian people to decide and is not a goal of the US military.
Meanwhile, Trump sought to manage a fragile truce between Iran and Israel after nearly two weeks of escalating hostilities. In a social media post earlier in the day, he claimed the ceasefire was “in effect,” despite ongoing tensions.
Explosions were reported in Tehran after Israeli airstrikes struck a radar installation. Tel Aviv said the strike was in retaliation for Iranian missiles launched mere hours after the ceasefire came into force. Tehran denied firing any missiles.
Before heading to the Nato summit, the US President had lashed out at Israel and Iran for putting the ceasefire brokered by him into jeopardy, and dropped an F-bomb in his frustration.
“I’ve got to get Israel to calm down now,” he said. “Iran and Israel had been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”
A little while later, he said in a Truth Social post that “both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the war, equally”.
