Trump said that removing Iran’s current leadership would be the most favourable outcome
U.S. President Donald Trump stated that a change in leadership in Iran would be highly beneficial, marking one of his most explicit expressions of support for replacing the country’s clerical ruling system.
He said on Friday, “For 47 years they’ve been talking. In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives.”
Trump declined to specify who he wants to lead Iran, but he said “there are people” who can handle it. Iran’s religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has not yet responded to Trump’s latest statements.
Meanwhile, the US sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to increase pressure on Iran for a nuclear deal.
Trump said that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship and the newest US aircraft carrier, would be moving from the Caribbean to the Middle East “very soon.”
On his Twitter social platform, Trump shared an aerial photo of the carrier, which appears to be heading to join another US vessel already in the Middle East—the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The Pentagon dispatched aircraft carriers in January after the US threatened to attack Iran to prevent a government crackdown on mass protests that killed thousands.
This wave of protests was one of the biggest upheavals in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which established a clerical system headed by the Supreme Leader.
Trump has threatened to attack Iran if a nuclear deal is not reached, but after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday, he insisted that negotiations with Tehran would continue.
Speaking at Fort Bragg on Friday evening, Trump said Iran should “give us the deal they should have given us in the first place” when asked what the Middle Eastern country should do to avoid an attack.
The US has pressured Iran to halt uranium enrichment, while Netanyahu’s government has insisted that Tehran abandon its ballistic missile program and support for proxy groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran has so far stated that it is willing to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, but President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that he will not “bow to their excessive demands.”
During his first term, Trump withdrew the US from the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions that have severely impacted its economy.
Before the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last year, the administration resumed negotiations to reach a new deal.
