Donald Trump has raised the possibility of “regime change” in Iran following the US bombing of its nuclear facilities, defying his administration’s insistence that its goals for the operation were limited.
In a burst of social media posts, the US president hailed the return of the mission’s B-2 bombers to Missouri, said the damage to Iran’s nuclear sites was “monumental” and floated a scenario where the government in Tehran might collapse.
“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 on Truth Social. “MIGA!,” he added.
Trump’s comments about Tehran come after top US officials said they were not seeking a different government in Iran.
“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,” US vice-president JD Vance told NBC on Sunday.
“We want to end their nuclear programme, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement,” he said.
Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose as much as 5.7 per cent to $81.40, a five-month high, before paring gains to trade up just 0.1 per cent at $77.12 in London.
As Iran and Israel traded more air strikes early on Monday, Iran’s top military commander said his forces were entitled to retaliate against US interests after Washington struck the Islamic republic, while signalling the main response may be directed at Israel.
Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said the US strikes meant his forces “are fully authorised to take any action against the US military and its interests, and we will never retreat from these steps”.
A push for regime change by the US could increase the risk of deeper American involvement that many Democrats and even some Republicans, especially in Trump’s non-interventionist Maga base, are wary of.
The strikes on Sunday morning on Iran already escalated the conflict in the Middle East, which has been in turmoil since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023. They came just over a week after Israel launched missiles at Iran and Tehran hit back by striking targets in Israel.
The US claimed to have inflicted “extremely severe damage and destruction” on Iran’s nuclear facilities, in a gamble by the White House that the operation could hurt the Islamic republic without provoking a military or political backlash.
General Dan Caine, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said seven B-2 bombers had dropped 14 “bunker buster” bombs on targets in Iran.
In a social media post on Monday, Trump said: “Obliteration is an accurate term!” He added: “The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!”
The bombing raid, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, was also the first use in conflict of the 30,000lb GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, widely believed to be the only bomb able to penetrate Iran’s subterranean Fordow nuclear site. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said Fordow was the “primary target”.
The US bombers also targeted a separate site at Natanz, while a nuclear submarine was used to fire Tomahawk missiles at a third site in Isfahan.
While Vance claimed the US had “destroyed the Iranian nuclear programme”, Pentagon officials were more cautious pending a full assessment.
“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” said Caine.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the US had “crossed a very big red line” with its bombing raid.
Tehran retaliated with more strikes against Israel, injuring 16 people. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the US of a “regret-inducing response” that could target American military bases in the Middle East.
Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen also said they would resume targeting US vessels in the Red Sea. Some politicians in Tehran called for Iran to shut the Strait of Hormuz to disrupt oil supplies from the Gulf.
US officials said they had no plans for further attacks unless Iran hit back.
“There are no planned military operations right now against Iran unless they mess around and they attack [America] or American interests, then they’re going to have a problem,” said US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was close to achieving the goals of its military campaign in Iran.
“We embarked on this mission to remove these two concrete threats against our existence: the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat,” Netanyahu told a press conference. “We are very, very close to fulfilling them.”
The UK, France and Germany jointly called on Iran to negotiate a new nuclear deal with the west.
China and Russia condemned the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. UN secretary-general António Guterres called it a “direct threat to international peace and security”.
