Trump fuels tensions with Iran, calls for “regime change” after US strikes

US President Donald Trump has sparked controversy by raising the prospect of “regime change” in Iran, just days after US bombers launched a major assault on Iranian nuclear facilities.

In a flurry of posts on Truth Social, Trump celebrated the military operation — dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer — and touted the scale of destruction inflicted on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

“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???,” Trump wrote. He punctuated the message with the slogan: “MIGA!”

Trump’s provocative remarks come in the wake of coordinated US airstrikes targeting three key nuclear sites in Iran — Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The assault featured seven B-2 bombers dropping 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, marking the weapon’s first use in combat. According to General Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the operation caused “extremely severe damage and destruction.”

Despite Trump’s open calls for regime change, top US officials reiterated a more restrained approach. “Our view has been very clear that we don’t want a regime change. We do not want to protract this or build this out any more than it’s already been built out,” Vice President J.D. Vance said. “We want to end their nuclear program, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement.”

The strikes, which follow a series of escalating exchanges between Iran and Israel, have triggered widespread alarm in the region. Iran’s top military commander, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, warned that his forces were now “fully authorised to take any action against the US military and its interests.”

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, accused the United States of crossing “a very big red line,” while Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened a “regret-inducing response.”

By Vafa Guliyeva