US President Donald Trump suggested he might welcome the toppling of the government in Tehran, hours after members of his administration insisted that recent attacks on Iran were not intended to bring about “regime change.”
“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!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform .
The comments came hours after leading members of his administration — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — indicated a negotiated settlement was the goal of the US air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and not the toppling of the current Islamic-led theocratic government.
At a news conference, Hegseth called the strikes a “precision operation” aimed only at Iran’s nuclear program, not Iranian troops or the Iranian people. “This mission was not, and has not been, about regime game,” he said.
Trump “seeks peace, and Iran should take that path,” Hegseth said, later adding: “There needs to be a negotiated settlement here.”
“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,” Vance said on NBC television. “We want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here.”
The “Iranian regime should wake up and say: ‘OK, if we really want nuclear energy in our country — there is a way to do it.’ That offer is still there. We prepared to talk to them tomorrow and start working on that,” Rubio, who is also the acting White House national security adviser, told US network CBS.
Some members of Trump’s Republican Party have, however, in the past called for the toppling of the Iranian government, including influential Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
“I am advocating that we use maximum pressure and economic sanctions to pressure the regime in a way that might encourage this regime to fall,” he said before the US strikes.
US officials on June 22 warned Tehran not to retaliate after the unprecedented air strikes that Trump claimed “obliterated” key Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran turned a cold shoulder to urgent calls from for a return to negotiations, stressing its right to self-defense, saying the United States would be responsible for the “dangerous consequences” of its actions, and suggesting that diplomacy can only come after Tehran responds.
Before And After: The Iranian Nuclear Sites Targeted By US Airstrikes
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told a news conference in Istanbul that “door to diplomacy” should always be open but that “this is not the case right now.”
Iran is under attack and will exercise its right to self-defense for as long as is necessary, he added, but said he could not reveal what actions Iran would take in response to the US strikes.
Iranian state media later reported Araqchi had arrived in Moscow to hold consultations on June 23 with senior leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, whose recent offer to help mediate negotiations with Tehran was effectively rejected by Trump.
“Russia is our partner and we always consult,” Araqchi said prior to his arrival.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu said Israel is “very, very close” to reaching its goals of after more than a week of air strikes on Iran, including elimination of Tehran’s ballistic missile and nuclear threats.
“We are moving step by step toward achieving these goals, we are very, very close to completing them,” Netanyahu told a news conference.
He added that “when they have been reached, the operation will finish.”
Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran on June 13 targeting its missile and nuclear facilities, as well as military leaders and security services.
Many leading military figures and nuclear scientists have been killed in the assaults, Iran has acknowledged.
Since the launching of the initial Israeli strikes, both nations have been exchanging air assaults on each other, causing military and civilian deaths and property damages.
The UN chief cautioned of a “growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control” as fears of a wider war grew following the US bombings overnight.
Antonio Guterres was speaking at an emergency session of the UN Security Council, adding that “the people of the region cannot endure another cycle of destruction.
Russia, China, and Pakistan proposed that the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an unconditional cease-fire in the Middle East, but it was not clear if it would be put to a vote.
Trump announced what he called a “spectacular military success,” saying US bombers hit nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan in a joint effort with Israel to destroy Iran’s nuclear program after diplomacy failed to get Tehran to return to the negotiating table.
“Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise,” Trump said in an address to the nation from the White House. The strikes occurred early on June 22 local time in Iran, but it was still June 21 in Washington when Trump spokes.
“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.”
On June 22, Trump posted to his social media platform that the “great B-2 pilots” had returned safely to their base in Missouri, although he did not provide further details of the attacks.
Trump, who just two days ago had said he would decide “within two weeks” whether to join Israel in its effort to destroy Iranian nuclear sites, said that “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace.”
“If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,” Trump said. adding that Iran’s future holds “either peace or tragedy.”
There were no immediate reports of any Iranian strikes targeting US interests in the Middle East or elsewhere, but Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had launched 40 missiles targeting Israel on the morning of June 22, including one of Tehran’s biggest ballistic missiles, the Khorramshahr-4.
The Israeli Health Ministry said more than 80 people had been wounded in Iranian strikes overnight, more than 70 of them sustaining light injuries.
The Israeli military said it carried out strikes on military facilities in several cities across Iran on June 22, including attacks targeting a strategic missile command center in Yazd province and missile launchers in Ahvaz, Bushehr, and Isfahan.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said he was convening an emergency meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors on June 23 “in light of the urgent situation in Iran.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had joined the European Union, France, and Germany last week in seeking to find a diplomatic solution in talks with Iran, urged Tehran to return to negotiations.
“Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the U.S. has taken action to alleviate that threat,” Starmer said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also said that “Iran must never acquire the bomb.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow “strongly condemns” the US bombings, which it said were “irresponsible” and a “gross violation of international law.”
