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Politico
31 minutes ago
- Politico
Trump floats regime change in Iran after US strikes nuclear sites, muddying the administration's message
President Donald Trump's top national security officials spent much of Sunday insisting his administration doesn't want to bring about the end of Iran's government, only its nuclear program. Then Trump left the door open for exactly that. '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. While Trump did not call for the ouster of the regime, or say that the U.S. would play any role in overthrowing the Iranian government, his words undercut what had appeared to be a coordinated message from his top advisers. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth each insisted Sunday that the U.S. was only interested in dismantling Iran's nuclear capabilities. 'We don't want to achieve regime change. We want to achieve the end of the Iranian nuclear program,' Vance told ABC. 'That's what the president set us out to do.' The others also focused their statements around the idea that the strikes were limited and focused solely on Iran's nuclear program. The conflicting tones highlight the difficulty the Trump administration faces as it tries to navigate the fallout — both domestically and abroad — of its massive strike on Iran. Officials want to convince Tehran to keep its response limited, and mollify the factions of the MAGA base that didn't want the U.S. to launch the strikes. But Trump's post makes clear the sense inside the administration that this all may end with the Iranian government toppled. Rubio was the first to flag the possibility on Sunday. While he reiterated that toppling Iran's theocratic republic was not the goal of the strikes, he said that if the country remained committed to becoming a nuclear power, it could imperil the survival of the regime. 'I think it would be the end of the regime if they tried to do that,' Rubio said, speaking on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures. Trump's willingness to consider regime change is likely to stoke divisions inside his party. So far, many of Trump's supporters, many of whom had opposed attacking Iran, have rallied around him, cheering the strike as a limited action, but there were already signs of dissension before his social media post. In a lengthy post on X, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she is 'sick of' American participation in foreign wars and feared the knock on effects. 'American troops have been killed and forever torn apart physically and mentally for regime change, foreign wars, and for military industrial base profits,' she said. Vance was seen as the leader of the GOP's anti-war faction before he endorsed Trump's approach this week. Vance said in a separate interview Sunday that the U.S. sees a path toward speaking with Iran's current government and integrating it into the international community if it pledges to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons.. 'We want to end their nuclear program, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here,' he said on NBC's Meet the Press. Though it will take days to assess the full effect of American strikes, Iran has already vowed to retaliate. The country's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that the U.S. 'crossed a very big red line' and that it was not the time for diplomacy. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long publicly flirted with Iranian regime change, saying that changing Iran's government is not the goal of Israeli operations but could be an effect as the country is weakened. Inside the administration, Trump and his team still feel confident they can keep the response from spilling into something larger. 'Trump believes he can do this without regime change, and if anyone can, it's going to be him,' a U.S. official said before Trump's social media post, granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking. Victoria Coates, former deputy national security adviser in Trump's first term and vice president at the Heritage Foundation, said 'the big question' will be whether he can keep the party together but that the initial signs are positive — including Vance's support. 'He is taking the role of asking some tough questions that need to be asked, but if he's satisfied — as clearly he was about the Iran operation — he's going to get on board and support the president, because that's what his job is,' she said. 'It indicates to me that the vast majority of the party is going to come together here — there's always going to be some outliers.' Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Ca.), said the U.S. has learned lessons from past entanglements and like others in his party tried to differentiate Trump's decision from other American wars in the Middle East. 'All of us understand that…you do not go into a country of nearly 90 million people and think that you're going to get out quickly,' Issa said on Fox News. 'The president is not trying to do regime change and made that clear. He is trying to change the regime's way of doing business.' Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Trump ally, said the president is trying to frame the strikes on Iran as similar to his move in his first term to direct the killing of the then top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, 'which wasn't about regime change.' 'Israel wants regime change,' he wrote on X. 'The only off-ramp now is that Trump might have to (once again) restrain Israel.' Few within the Republican party have publicly come out in favor of overthrowing Iran's government or backing Israel in doing so. Still, Trump last week mused publicly about killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And there are Republican hawks pushing to seize the opportunity to topple the government in Tehran. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a hawkish voice in the party, said on Meet the Press Sunday that Israel should have tried to topple Iran's government 'a long time ago.' Graham said he spoke Sunday with Netanyahu, who told Graham, 'this regime is not going to be tolerated by Israel.' After Trump's post, Graham said on X, 'President Trump is spot on with his desire to make Iran great again by changing the regime either through their behavior or new leadership.' Hegseth said on Sunday that the U.S. had delivered messages publicly and privately to Iran, adding that the regime understands 'precisely' the administration's position. In hailing the operation as a success at a Pentagon press conference, Hegseth underscored that the goal of the attack 'has not been about regime change' and pledged that the U.S. effort in Iran would not be 'open-ended,' batting away any comparisons to the long running American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that Trump campaigned against. 'Anything can happen in conflict, we acknowledge that,' Hegseth told reporters. 'But the scope of this was intentionally limited. That's the message that we're sending.' Another longtime GOP national security official with ties to some of the party's more hawkish figures suggested that Iran's military options are 'severely degraded' and that escalation should concern Tehran far more than it would the White House. 'The idea should terrify Khamenei,' said the official, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But if Iran were to retaliate, Trump, as he first teased in his remarks from the White House Saturday evening, could go further. Eli Stokols, Connor O'Brien and Joe Gould contributed to this report.
CBS News
37 minutes ago
- CBS News
Satellite photos show before and after U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities
New satellite photos show the aftermath of the U.S. military strike that dropped multiple 30,000-pound "bunker-buster" bombs on Iran's Fordo nuclear facility and hit two other key locations in Iran's nuclear program. The stealth U.S. mission, dubbed "Operation Midnight Hammer," struck three nuclear facilities in Iran — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — in the early hours of Sunday local time. Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing Sunday that seven B-2 Spirit bombers each carried two of the bombs known as GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, or MOPs. Over 25 minutes, a total of 14 MOPs were dropped on two target areas at Fordo and Natanz, while Tomahawk missiles from a U.S. submarine targeted the Isfahan site, he said. He said it was the first time those massive bombs have ever been used in an operation. "Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction," Caine said. Satellite photos show impact of strikes on Fordo Satellite images from Maxar Technologies, taken Sunday after the strikes, show damage to the mountainside where the underground nuclear site at Fordo is buried about 300 feet down. They can be compared to images of the same location taken before the strikes. Satellite image by Maxar Technologies shows the Fordo underground nuclear facility in Iran before U.S. strikes. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies Satellite image by Maxar Technologies shows the Fordo underground nuclear facility in Iran after U.S. strikes taken on June 22, 2025. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies A layer of ash caused by the airstrikes can be seen across a large swath of the area. The images by Maxar show several large diameter holes or craters on the top of the ridge over the underground complex. Satellite photo taken on June 22, 2025, by Maxar Technologies, shows craters and ash on the ridge at Fordo underground complex in Iran after U.S. strikes. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies Additionally, several of the tunnel entrances that lead to the underground facility appear blocked by dirt following the strikes. Satellite image by Maxar Technologies shows the tunnels leading into the Fordo underground nuclear facility in Iran before U.S. strikes. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies Satellite image from June 22, 2025, by Maxar Technologies shows the tunnels leading into the Fordo underground nuclear facility in Iran after U.S. strikes. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies Asked at the briefing whether any of Iran's nuclear capability remains, Caine said, "I think (battle damage assessment) is still pending, and it would be way too early for me to comment on what may or may not still be there." Iran has yet to offer a damage assessment of the site. The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency said in a social media post that it had seen "no increase in off-site radiation levels" in the wake of the U.S. strikes. In a statement on Sunday to the U.N. Security Council, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said his team was unable to assess the underground damage at Fordo. Following the attacks, he said there's a "window of opportunity to return to dialogue and diplomacy." "If that window closes, violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels and the global non-proliferation regime as we know it could crumble and fall," Grossi said. Craters, destroyed buildings in Isfahan and Natanz At Isfahan, which was targeted by about a dozen Tomahawk missiles, satellite images from Sunday show extensive building damage across the facility, compared to images taken June 16. The Israeli military had also heavily bombed Isfahan in recent days Grossi told the UN Security Council that affected buildings include some related to the uranium conversion process. Entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit, the IAEA director general said. Satellite image by Maxar Technologies shows the Isfahan nuclear facility in Iran on June 16, before U.S. strikes. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies Satellite image by Maxar Technologies on June 22, 2025 shows the Isfahan nuclear facility in Iran after U.S. strikes. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies At the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, a satellite image captured Sunday by Maxar shows an approximately 5.5-meter diameter hole or crater in the dirt directly over part of the underground military complex. Satellite image by Maxar Technologies shows the Isfahan nuclear facility in Iran on June 15, before the U.S. strike. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies Satellite image by Maxar Technologies on June 22, 2025 shows the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran after U.S. strikes. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies Natanz had been previously damaged by the first Israeli strikes on Iran on June 13. Grossi confirmed Sunday that the fuel enrichment plant in Natanz had been hit again, with the U.S. confirming that it used ground-penetrating munitions. He said Iran has informed the nuclear watchdog there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels following the attacks. However, bombing nuclear facilities "could result in radioactive releases with grave consequence," Grossi warned, urging "maximum restraint." U.S. military used decoys and deception in attack President Trump announced Saturday evening that the U.S. had launched strikes against Iran. He said in a national address later Saturday night that the sites "have been completely and totally obliterated." Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Sunday that the U.S. used decoy B-2 bombers, which flew west over the Pacific from their base in Missouri earlier Saturday, to throw off the Iranians from the true plans. The bombers actually involved in the strike took off on an eastward path, refueling several times on their way to the Middle East. Hegseth added that the U.S. used other methods of deception to protect the B-2 bombers that dropped the 14 "bunker-buster" bombs. He said the tactics helped the U.S. drop the bombs without tipping off Iran's fighter jets or its air missile systems. "Our B-2s went in and out … and back without the world knowing at all," Hegseth said. "In that way, it was historic. A strike that included the longest B-2 Spirit bomber mission since 2001, and the first operational employment of the MOP, a Massive Ordnance Penetrator."
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Mahmoud Khalil speaks to ABC News in 1st broadcast interview after ICE release
Watch more of Linsey Davis' broadcast interview with Mahmoud Khalil on "Good Morning America" Monday at 7 a.m. ET and ABC News Live Prime at 7 p.m. ET. Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by ICE for more than three months, spoke with ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis in the first on-camera interview since his release. In the interview, which is set to air on Monday at 7 p.m. ET, Khalil pushed back against the Trump administration's claim that he is a threat to U.S. national security. "The White House has said that you distributed pro-Hamas fliers. Secretary Rubio said that you created an environment of harassment toward Jewish students. President Trump said we got to get him the hell out of our country. Why do you think that you are perceived as such a threat?" Davis asked Khalil in the exclusive interview. "Because I represent a movement that goes against what this administration is trying to do," Khalil responded. "They try to portray me as a violent person. They try to portray me as a terrorist, as some lunatic, but not presenting any evidence, not presenting any shred of credibility to their claims." Khalil was released Friday evening from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Jena, Louisiana, after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz issued an order granting his release on bail. The judge said the government made no attempt to prove that Khalil's release would irreparably harm them in some way and that Khalil represented a flight risk. "What all that evidence adds up to is a lack of violence, a lack of property destruction, a lack of anything that might be characterized as incitement to violence," Farbiarz said of Khalil. The judge said that the conditions of Khalil's release shall not include electronic monitoring or a requirement that a bond be immediately posted. "The hundreds of men who are left behind me shouldn't be there in the first place," Khalil told reporters on Friday, referring to others being detained. "The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here. Whether you are a U.S. citizen, an immigrant or just a person on this land, doesn't mean that you are less of a human." MORE: Mahmoud Khalil released from ICE custody in Louisiana The ruling to release Khalil came at the same time an immigration judge in Jena, Louisiana, denied Khalil's request for asylum and ordered him to remain detained. Farbiarz's order superseded that ruling. The Department of Homeland Security sharply criticized the judge's decision to release Khalil, claiming in a statement on Friday that the ruling is "yet another example of how out-of-control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security," and arguing "an immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Mr. Khalil should be released or detained." "Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts," the statement continued. Khalil, a green card holder who is married to an American citizen, was a graduate student at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) during a series of pro-Palestinian protests on campus against the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. MORE: Judge rules Trump administration cannot continue to detain Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil Khalil was detained in March, with the Trump administration saying then in part that his continued presence in the country would pose a risk to U.S. foreign policy. However, Judge Farbiarz issued a preliminary injunction last week barring the Trump administration from continuing to detain him based on that assertion. Khalil was detained for an additional week until his release on Friday after the government argued for his continued detention based on their allegation that he misrepresented information on his green card application, an allegation that Khalil and his attorneys deny. Khalil, a grandson of Palestinian refugees who was born in Syria and has Algerian citizenship, welcomed his first child, a son named Deen, while he was in custody. Khalil thanked his supporters during a press conference in New York on Saturday and vowed to continue to speak out for Palestinian human rights. "Even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine," Khalil said.
