Vance claimed that the US is not going to change the regime in Tehran. Trump said: Why not?
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The United States does not intend to change the current regime in Iran, Vice President J.D. Vance said in an interview with the American television channel ABC News. But later, US President Donald Trump admitted that this is a possibility.
Earlier, on June 17, the US president said that Iran's de facto leader Ali Khamenei is an "easy target," but added that the US was not going to kill him "at least not yet."
When asked whether the United States aims to kill Khamenei and whether they do not rule out the possibility of achieving regime change in Iran, Vance replied that the latter is not the goal of the Trump administration.
"Well, first of all, we don't want to achieve regime change. We want to achieve an end to the Iranian nuclear program. That's America's goal, and that's what the president has set before us," the vice president noted.
UPDATED. Trump has published a new post hinting that the regime in Iran may still be changed: "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!!!"
The vice president also noted that his leader is not interested in a protracted conflict in the Middle East.
"[Eliminating Iran’s nuclear program] will continue to be the goal of American foreign policy. And it is this goal that will motivate our actions in the coming weeks and months," Vance explained.
He also said that in the coming weeks, the US administration will work to do something about Tehran's enriched uranium and will hold talks with the Iranians.
- On the night of June 22, the United States attacked Iran's nuclear facilities. Trump called Tehran a "bully" and said it should return to negotiations. He also warned that attempts to respond to the attacks would be met with force.
- According to Fox News and CNN, Iran could have been attacked with 30 Tomahawk missiles and five to six GBU-57 bunker-busting bombs.
- Israel welcomed the US attacks on Iran, while the UN Secretary General and a number of politicians in the US condemned them.
- Iran called an emergency UN meeting after the US attack and fired missiles at Israel. 11 people were reported injured, and a residential building was destroyed in Tel Aviv.
- Before the US operation, Ukraine evacuated its citizens and partner countries from the danger zone. The Foreign Ministry reported that Ukraine supports the closure of Iran's nuclear program and supported regime change in Tehran.