•Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and US President Donald Trump
Donald Trump thinks Iranians should overthrow their government if it refuses to negotiate on its nuclear programme, but the US president is “still interested” in diplomacy, the White House said today.
“If the Iranian regime refuses to come to a peaceful diplomatic solution, which the president is still interested and engaging in, by the way, why shouldn’t the Iranian people take away the power of this incredibly violent regime that has been suppressing them for decades?” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News.
US bombers attacked Iran’s heavily guarded and secretive nuclear enrichment sites over the weekend, joining Israel’s military campaign to destroy the Iranian nuclear programme.
Top officials have repeatedly insisted the US goal is not regime change in Iran, but Trump veered off that messaging yesterday with a social media post saying “why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???”
The risky bombing mission was a complete success, according to the White House, with Trump announcing in another post that “Monumental Damage was done” to the sites. However, there is no independent verification of how much Iran’s nuclear programme has been set back.
Iran is accused by Israel, the United States and other Western powers of seeking to build nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian power programme, something Tehran has always denied.
