President Trump said Friday that regime change in Iran would be "the best thing that could happen" — his most direct public endorsement of toppling Tehran's theocratic government. The remarks came following a visit to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as the administration continues massing naval firepower in the region and pressing Iran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program entirely.
Trump didn't mince words about the stakes or the timeline when asked by reporters about regime change:
"Well, it seems like that would be the best thing that could happen."
"For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking."
"And in the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off — this has been going on for a long time."
He then pointed to the hardware backing up the rhetoric:
"So let's see what happens. In the meantime … tremendous power has arrived and additional power — as you know, another carrier is going out."
That "additional power" is the USS George H.W. Bush, whose crew Trump has informed to prepare for deployment. It joins the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group, which Trump ordered into the Arabian Sea last month.
The military posture isn't happening in a vacuum. According to the New York Post, on Feb. 6, a U.S. negotiating team led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. Araghchi said the indirect talks focused solely on Iran's nuclear program.
Washington wants more than a nuclear agreement. The administration is pressing for respect for human rights and an end to Iran's arming of proxies — including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in northern Yemen. Tehran has so far refused to be drawn on those issues.
Trump has stated he wants Iran to agree to the complete abandonment of its enrichment program. Iran insists its radioactive research is for electricity, not atomic weapons. Given that Iran's nuclear program was bombed last June by Israel and the United States, Tehran's negotiating position is considerably weaker than its rhetoric suggests.
The day before his Fort Bragg visit, Trump warned that Iran faced a "traumatic" reckoning if it wouldn't make a deal. The escalation in language tracks with the escalation in force projection — two aircraft carrier groups don't sail into the Arabian Sea to observe.
Trump's regime change comments sit against a backdrop of brutal repression inside Iran. The administration encouraged Iranian protesters earlier this year. On Jan. 2, Trump wrote on social media that the U.S. was "locked and loaded and ready to go" if Tehran "violently kills peaceful protesters." Eleven days later, he called on demonstrators directly:
"TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!"
"HELP IS ON ITS WAY"
Iran's government crushed the protests. The death toll from the crackdown is estimated well into the thousands. Iran reportedly postponed the killings of hundreds of demonstrators, after which Trump backed away from an immediate strike.
The human cost is staggering and real. Thousands of Iranians took to the streets believing change was possible — and paid for it with their lives. Whatever comes next in the diplomatic or military sphere, their sacrifice has already shaped the terrain.
Trump met on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss war plans. Netanyahu reportedly urged Trump to target Iran's longer-range ballistic missiles in the event of an American attack. He also reportedly pleaded for a delay last month over concerns about Israel's preparedness.
U.S. partners, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, urged Trump not to try to take out Iran's leadership — a request that gained additional weight Friday when Trump pointedly refused to answer press questions about whether he would attempt to assassinate the highest-level Iranian officials. He dismissed exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi as a viable contender to lead Iran, suggesting Iranians themselves would have to sort out a new government.
That distinction matters. Trump isn't floating a U.S.-installed puppet government. He's signaling that the Iranian people should determine their own leadership — while making clear the United States is prepared to create the conditions under which that becomes possible.
Trump has never been a neoconservative, and his record on regime change is one of deep skepticism. During his 2016 presidential run, he was unsparing:
"The war in Iraq started the whole destabilization of the Middle East. It started ISIS. It started Libya. It started Syria. That was one of the worst decisions ever made by any government at any time."
That history makes Friday's comments more significant, not less. This isn't a president who reaches for regime change as a first instinct. It's a president who has exhausted the alternatives — 47 years of them, by his count — and arrived at the conclusion that the current Iranian regime is incapable of making or keeping a deal.
The difference between Iraq 2003 and Iran 2026 is the difference between invasion and pressure. Two carrier groups in the Arabian Sea. A nuclear program already degraded by last June's strikes. A regime that just massacred thousands of its own citizens. An indigenous protest movement that proved the population's appetite for change. And a president who, unlike his predecessors, is willing to say the quiet part out loud.
Forty-seven years of talking. Two aircraft carriers are steaming toward the Arabian Sea. And a president who just told the world what he thinks should happen next.